



. o x 




V- o T 

i ^ 

4 O 

A >f* 
v rv 

♦ ^ 
4- 


-a¥a* <?„ <a 

S^, 

* 4 




►> /-'v * x^nrk/ to, * ,\ y * j i ° ^ 

A • k?li® ■« <A ^ oV Ji\K * A °*p* 

i* \3 '-.vf 4 a <,-..»• ,o v \3 < 4 a 

■fc, A V . t . .. <S> O^ c » « • ♦ ^o A V 

A t *P C U • -r^Vv ^ <A * 

# ^ *N ♦ JptWYT ^, r. > v v •'.■%-> aN * 




; v’ ^ 

♦ r\ ^*. * 

* * . 4 * ’ A 0 'V * o i » * « 

V • 



<i. '•' ‘ A -x- 

^ C 0‘ O, 

?*mr r ■ 



• % $ • 

: W 

•* -Q~ V »• ** 

- 0^ A 



<a '•'.** .G 1 

A v •*■'-♦ A* .0^ 0 

A -A. A C A 

o V . - «** (r °*vy 

Hal ■ ■/ 

« r o * 

o, - 



C^'S'cs J ° aV^ O W/^cM? * A^rv 

^ * ^?IJJjPv^ ■* A v o V' ■' \j^ * <v' >0> 

^ O ' . . s s A <.'*»•** ,Ci \D ,v ' .. s" A 

o*o ^ .V a ,. / * <5> o» O „ ^ 

0 — - o ^ r, u . & r^ % a .A 

» ry A *■ * A. 

, o V . /»« ^ n v 



;♦ ^0 


j- 0 v 





• ^ r ZZZ?Wj? ^ ^ 'Z *. 

<£* ^ VlWV^y* ' K~ _ * Vy /iiF + rv X- rf> 

V'-^V A ‘‘-•A 0 
> *0 ,»••'♦ ^ «> ’ * .0 ** • *'* "> 
"p. /V*l? ' ./&'"< * .A A * A S} « ■'p. >» v S /{|i» r .o 

^ A * A' ♦ ,rf\'Sf A° A * &\mLrk « 




* V » 



■* <l n 


'o • * * ,6 


i » 



■ * aV 5 °^ >> . ^ 

- . * ct* X* “» 

•* .0^ c ©" ° -» "o -A ♦'•'*♦ 

■» Zy 0 *^ ^ 

*-*■'* :£M.Z*- ^o 4 :<^ 



-4, O 
® A 

' K V * 

• <1.^ o * 

°»° 0 * •»■> 



a0^ C 
Vj * 

s < 


A °*C> 

%* n o %, *ym?y .y o 

*’*' ^ V «» y *0<e 



'Is#*” ,p v \. \w^** . 

A t, *»f- ^ - <*, A ^ % W* A 

"°Z-"'.^°~ .•*'*. ^ ,0 V C«"*» ''"o A* 




y o A * o 

^ 'a *' 

* S .VL'* > v o’* 0 - o 

* 





_ X V \ 

<2 *■* A S * A 'o * » 

& t f a <5* r\ v ' , o " a - "o 

-k *■ \ c, u ° 


• * A A • 

* A ... V 



A 0 * 


4 O 

° vc> 

^ ->w/ 

^ *• - 0 0 



v 




* a 


-X 0 ‘liiL;* A> 

* ;***• * 

./ AA vA / ,/'\ 4 - 

^ A s 4 a <. 'o, i * ,c> o * *. s * 

-* A*’ t » a <£> (A 0 " O ^ 'q A . 1 ■ 

A C •«ssS5^V‘ ° A * fc 

<n. A 

O f . ^^TaW/> * U 



A V *•■'• A° V. 

^ „<*=>, c\ \0 5*'A» ^ 



* A 


’ 4 r\ - ’ , 

. '.^V o* 

0 * 0 4 \> 

*v - V 


A 

* * A A>. * 

4 «V ^ - 

* A . % 

cr o 0 '° + . o 



* Aa <0* ' 

'° Ao ,<A * 


>* ^° ^ 

* e ~tyy/ivj(i' * r\ ^. ■ p 

V v °V "‘" 1 *’a 0 ' 

V r ’ * V C> 

*■ * V 3 ., 

-mM\ vs- * ___ 

4° ^ a * W$ws S # - 

«.<’ .u ^ * *«» A Ax * ° • * * A* 

^ 0 ^ ,o««. A _A Ac ,o v o•_* • -. o 


4 

*" 6^ ^ ^vTlT 4 ' A 

A . w « ^ 


o . ^ 




C V . r-CXXN . «* 













A SHORT HISTORY 


OF 

THE AMERICAN PEOPLE 


BY 

EDNA TURPIN 

A 11 

WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY 

S. C. MITCHELL, Ph.D. 

PRESIDENT OF DELAWARE COLLEGE 


ILLUSTRATED 


“ Long as thine Art shall love true love, 

Long as thy Science truth shall know, 

Long as thine Eagle harms no Dove, 

Long as thy Law by law shall grow, 

Long as thy God is God above, 

Thy brother every man below, 

So long, dear Land of all my love, 

Thy name shall shine, thy fame shall glow! ” 

— Sidney Lanier 


B. F. JOHNSON PUBLISHING CO. 

Atlanta — RICHMOND — Dallas 


All rights reserved 


£.//« 

•/ 

. 


Copyright, 1911 


Copyright, 1914 
EDNA TURPIN 



14-11—H.P. 


/',6 y . 

JAN 21 1915 

©CI. A !J93!5 6 8 



INTRODUCTION 


Miss Turpin’s Short History of the American People 
has impressed me as a work of exceptional value. The 
narrative is clear, impartial, spirited, and altogether read¬ 
able. The prime merit of the work is, in my opinion, that 
events are made so to unfold that even a child will grasp 
the principle of cause and effect as it has worked itself out 
in the history of our country. This volume is not a series 
of detached dates and incidents, however picturesque or 
pleasingly told. The process of growth is brought out in 
every paragraph in such a way as to make the sequence of 
events illumining. By such treatment the reader is en¬ 
abled to contract the historical habit. As “ the habit of 
sound thinking is more than a thousand thoughts,” so the 
historical habit of interpreting cause and effect in human 
experience is of far more value than any knowledge of 
events, however comprehensive. 

The author has preserved the due perspective of Ameri¬ 
can history by giving a large place to the facts bearing on 
the industrial and social development of our people, in 
accordance with the changing sphere of the modern State, 
which is becoming more and more social both in its spirit 
and aims. 

The style is simple and yet energetic, while the appara¬ 
tus for teaching, such as maps, topics for study, references 
for reading, and suggestive questions, are admirable. 


Columbia, S.C., 

February, 1911 


S. C. MITCHELL 








. 















































































PREFACE 


The history of America is the story of the transforma¬ 
tion of a country, in brief space of time, from a wilderness 
occupied by half-naked savages to the home of a great, 
highly-civilized nation ; it is the history of the growth of an 
ideal, — a government founded on the principles of liberty, 
equality, and fraternity. Only three hundred years ago 
the English race and free government were established in 
the little Jamestown colony. Twelve other colonies, like it 
in race and principles, grew up along the middle Atlantic 
coast. The colonies became states, the states formed a 
confederation, the confederation gave way to a republic of 
united republics, the republics have been welded into a 
great and glorious nation. 

This book is an attempt to tell the story of the Ameri¬ 
can people in a simple, connected, vivid way, so as to make 
their history interesting and their past and present prob¬ 
lems intelligible to young students. American children 
should learn the history of our country and should under¬ 
stand its past and present problems, so as to be prepared 
to accept, in their turn, the sacred trust of its guidance. 

Events are described with due regard to their rela¬ 
tive importance. Especial emphasis is laid on the advance 
in invention, education, science, literature, — the wonder¬ 
ful progress of peace. 

It should always be borne in mind that we see events 
clearly and truly only when we look at them by the light 
of their own times. Early religious persecutions, British 


viii 


PREFACE 


trade laws, New England’s slave trading, southern slave 
holding, are to be judged by the standards and conditions 
of the times, not by those of the twentieth century. 

The history of America is one of physical, mental, and 
moral growth and progress. To this growth and progress, 
each section — north, south, east, west—has contributed 
and is contributing its part. We must recognize and duly 
value each and all. The cultivation of sectional egotism, 
the inculcation of one-sided, narrow-minded views, are 
great evils to any community. 

It is hoped that this book will be useful in teaching 
American history so as to inspire true patriotism and to 
train children for honest, earnest, intelligent citizenship. 


PREFACE TO REVISED EDITION 

This history has been carefully revised and brought up 
to date. There are a number of slight changes for the 
sake of clearness and correctness, two new sections have 
been inserted, there are several new illustrations and maps, 
and the narrative now includes the first part of the present 
administration. The titles of the fourth and sixth chapters 
have been changed: “From Colonies to States” seems a 
better title than “ War of the Revolution ” for the Ameri¬ 
can struggle for liberty, which was carried on before and 
during the Revolution, in legislative halls as well as on 
battlefields; clearness and continuity are secured by in¬ 
cluding the sectional strife of 1850 et seq. in the chapter 
with the “ War of Secession ” and entitling this chapter 
“ Discord, Secession, and War.” 

For help in the work of revision, the author thanks Dr. 
Lyon G. T.yler, Dr. James S. Wilson, Dr. S. C. Mitchell, 
Mr. R. D. W. Connor, Col. Hilary A. Herbert, and others. 



SUGGESTIONS TO TEACHERS 


Every intelligent, conscientious teacher, through per¬ 
sonal experience and peculiar needs, evolves his or her own 
methods; but a few suggestions, originating from the 
author’s own experience in the schoolroom, may be helpful. 

1. The teacher’s own preparation should be as thorough 
as possible. A subject must be definite and vivid to us 
before we can make it living and interesting to others. 

2. Keep always clearly in view what you desire to 
accomplish. You wish the pupil to know thoroughly the 
main facts of the history of our country and to understand 
the causes, effects, and relations of these. You wish this 
knowledge to develop the child’s character and to inspire 
intelligent patriotism and a sense of personal responsibility 
for the good government of the country. How can these 
ends be best accomplished ? 

a. The teacher may profitably spend a few minutes on 
a lesson assigned for preparation, training the pupils to 
recognize and select the main points and to connect them 
with what has already been learned, as parts of one story. 

b. Thorough preparation should be required on the part 
of the pupil. He should study the subject as presented in 
his text-book, and this should be the basis of class work. 

c. The lesson should be assigned and recited by topics. 
For this purpose the section headings of this text-book will 
be found helpful. In reciting, the pupil should use his own 
language, not that of the book, and should be required 
always to express himself clearly and correctly. He may 


IX 


X 


SUGGESTIONS TO TEACHERS 


recite without being interrupted or questioned, and then 
other pupils may be required to correct misstatements, or 
to supply omitted facts. 

d. The training of memory and thought should go hand 
in hand. The child should learn the facts and relate them 
clearly as a connected story. He should consider also their 
causes and results, and look for the connection and se¬ 
quence of events. It should be borne in mind that the 
foundations of American history are laid in European his¬ 
tory,— of which for nearly three hundred of its four hun¬ 
dred years it was a part. 

e. Diligent use should be made of “ the two eyes of his¬ 
tory,”— chronology and geography. 

The few dates given in the text should be learned thor¬ 
oughly. Around the main facts, related ones should be 
grouped. These should be so closely associated that the 
mention of one event will call to mind connected and con¬ 
temporary events. 

Use maps constantly with the text, and keep definitely 
in view the physical features of the country and their effects 
on settlement, industries, events, and character. It is a 
good plan to use an outline map for each chapter, marking 
on it the chief events of the period. 

f. Each period, each term, should be taught thoroughly 
and then its events connected with the past. Important 
events should be taught by grouping related events in sev¬ 
eral different ways,—according to subject, geography, and 
chronology. 

g. Do not advance too rapidly. Review often. Do not 
overtax the pupil’s mind or memory, but insist on his 
grasping and retaining the main facts. Many devices may 
be used for this purpose. Five minutes’ written exercises 
on topics are useful. So are questions prepared by the 
pupil 


SUGGESTIONS TO TEACHERS 


xi 


h. Interest may be added to the lesson by the judicious 
use of the Topics for Study. These furnish suggestions 
for class and individual study. It is not expected that all 
nor most of them shall be required of each member of any 
class. 

i. Sources should be used with care, but they should be 
used. Each pupil should read contemporary accounts of 
important events. Illustrative literature has a twofold 
value: it adds interest to the narration and it develops a 
taste for good literature. Pictures of scenery, portraits of 
famous persons, and copies of good pictures should be col¬ 
lected and observed. Every available means should be 
used to make events interesting and personalities real. 

j. The ethical teachings of character and events, should 
be emphasized. A boy of to-day will not need to lead a 
colony, like Captain John Smith; but there are always 
fields in which common sense, energy, and wisdom are 
needed. 

First, last, and always, that historical training is best 
which best prepares the child for his or her duties as an 
American citizen. 







































• • 




. 














































































CONTENTS 


CHAPTER I 

The Beginnings of American History 

PAGE 


1. Physical Features of North America.i 

2. The Indians.5 

3. The Coming of the Northmen .12 

4. Europe in the Middle Ages.14 

5. Columbus and Other Discoverers.18 

6. Early Explorers.26 


CHAPTER II 


English Colonies 

1. Attempts to settle North America.36 

2. The Jamestown Colony ..43 

3. New England Colonies.57 

4. Settlements on the Middle Coast.72 

5. Colonial Growth.76 

6. Bacon’s Rebellion and King Philip’s War .... 83 

7. The Settlement of Pennsylvania ...... 86 

8. The Colonies at the End of the Seventeenth Century . . 91 


CHAPTER III 

The French-English Contest 

1. King William’s and Queen Anne’s War.102 

2. The Settlement of Georgia and King George’s War . . 108 

3. The French and Indian War.113 

CHAPTER IV 


From Colonies to States 

1. Colonial Discontent.124 

2. The Beginning of the War of the Revolution . . . 137 

xiii 















XIV 


CONTENTS 





PAGE 

3 - 

The Events of 1776 ...... 

• 

143 

4 - 

The Northern and the Western Campaigns of 1777- 

1779 . 

152 

5 - 

The Campaign in the South ..... 

. 

l6l 

6. 

The End of the War ...... 

• 

I69 


CHAPTER V 




The American Republic 



i. 

Forming a Government ..... 


175 

2. 

Washington’s Terms ...... 


182 

3 * 

John Adams’s Term ...... 


193 

4 - 

The Republic at the End of the Eighteenth Century 


I96 

5 * 

Jefferson’s Terms ....... 


206 

6. 

Madison’s Terms : The War of 1812 


215 

7 * 

Monroe’s Terms ....... 


229 

8. 

John Quincy Adams’s Term ..... 


236 

9 - 

Jackson’s Terms ....... 


241 

IO. 

Van Buren’s Term ...... 


249 

ii. 

Harrison and Tyler’s Term ..... 


252 

12. 

Polk’s Term: The War with Mexico . 


258 


CHAPTER VI 




Discord, Secession, and War 



I. 

Taylor and Fillmore’s Term ..... 

, 

264 

2. 

Pierce’s Term ....... 


271 

3 * 

Buchanan’s Term ...... 


273 

4 - 

Lincoln’s Presidency : The Beginning of the War of Secession 

285 

5 - 

The Events of 1862 . . • . 

# 

294 

6. 

The Events of 1863. 


310 

7 * 

The Events of 1864. 


3 i 9 

8. 

The End of the War. 


325 


CHAPTER VII 




National Development 



I. 

Johnson’s Term. 

• t 

334 

2 . 

Grant’s Terms. 


339 

3* 

Hayes’s Term . . . , 


349 











CONTENTS xv 

PAGE 

4. Garfield and Arthur’s Term . . . * 352 

5. Cleveland’s First Term.354 

6. Harrison’s Term.358 

7. Cleveland’s Second Term.362 

8. McKinley’s First Term : The War with Spain . . . 370 

9. The Nation at the End of the Nineteenth Century . . 377 

10. McKinley and Roosevelt’s Term ...... 390 

11. Roosevelt’s Second Term.396 

12. Taft’s Term . ........ 401 

13. President Wilson.. . 409 

APPENDIX 

Topics for Study . i 

List of Books .xxviii 

Charts and Outlines.xxx 

Declaration of Independence ..xxxviii 

Constitution of the United States ...... xlii 

Index ..lix 














































' I 

. . .c'^7 


■ 







■ 


































MAPS 


FULL-PAGE MAPS 


Early Distribution of Indian Tribes {colored') , . facing u 

Trade Routes to the East.16 

Routes of the Explorers ........ 40 

North Atlantic Coast, 1650-1695 ( colored} ... ,,90 

America Two Centuries after Discovery ..... 104 

South Atlantic Coast, 1650-1695 ( colored ) . . . facing 106 

Territorial Changes, 1763 ( colored ) .... „ 122 

The Colonies at the Outbreak of the Revolution ( colored ) „ 134 

The United States at the Close of the Revolution ( colored} „ 172 

The United States in 1803 (colored} .... „ 209 

Free and Slave Territory in 1821 (colored} ... „ 233 

Territorial Acquisitions, 1783-1853 (colored} . . „ 263 

United States and Confederate States (colored} . . „ 290 

Territorial Growth of the United States (colored} . following 376 


MAPS IN THE TEXT 


Map of Savage, Barbarous, and Half-civilized Tribes ... 6 

Toscanelli's Map ..18 

Explorations aiid Settlements during the Sixteenth Century . 34 

Land Grants under Charter of 1606.42 

Quebec and Vicinity . 120 

The Battle of Bunker Hill.141 

Clark’s Campaign, 1777-1778.160 

Greene’s Carolina Campaign.167 

Washington’s March to Yorktown.170 

Adoption of Manhood Suffrage.191 

Scene of the War in the North.218 

British Campaign against Washington, 1814 .... 223 

New Orleans and Vicinity.224 

xvii 















MAPS 


xviii 


Battle of New Orleans 

• 



PAGE 

. 225 

The Mexican War, 1846-1847 

• 



. 259 

Charleston Harbor .... 

• 



. 286 

Routes of the Invading Armies . 

• 



. 296 

Map of Vicksburg .... 

• 



. 298 

The Battlefield of Gettysburg 

• 



• 3*3 

The Chattanooga Campaign 

• 



• 315 

War Map of Virginia .... 




• 320 

Philippine Islands .... 




• 372 

Operations around Santiago de Cuba . 




* 372 

Profile of the Panama Canal 




• 393 

The Panama Canal .... 




• 393 

Movement of the Center of Population 




. 402 

Map showing Percentages of Population Increase, 1900-1910 

• 403 

Twelve Federal Reserve Banks and Districts 

. 

. 

. 411 








A SHORT HISTORY OF THE 
AMERICAN PEOPLE 


CHAPTER I 

THE BEGINNINGS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 
i. Physical Features of North America 

Physical history of North America. — A country, like a 
nation, has its history, — its beginning, its slow ages of 
growth, its great periods of change. By patient study of 
rocks, plants, and animals, scientists have learned the his¬ 
tory of our continent. They tell us that ages and ages 
ago the sea flowed over what is now dry land. By de¬ 
grees, the land rose out of the water and was occupied by 
strange plants and wonderful animals. 

In course of time, the climate changed. There came a 
long, long winter ; it destroyed plant and animal life and 
formed a great glacier which covered two-thirds of North 
America. At last, the climate grew mild again; the gla¬ 
cier melted and the land was occupied by plants and ani¬ 
mals like those known to us. People came, we know not 
when nor whence. They were tribes of wild men who 
hunted and fought their way across the country. Amer¬ 
ica was a world to itself, unknown to the people who lived 
beyond the great oceans which encircled it. It took hun¬ 
dreds of years for Europeans to learn what every school 
child now knows about our continent. 

Coast line. — North America is a great wedge-shaped 


2 


SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE 


body of land, broad at the north and narrowing toward the 
south. The eastern coast is indented with bays and gulfs 
which make good harbors. At the south, the Gulf of 
Mexico, a great arm of the Atlantic Ocean, extends half¬ 
way across the continent. Along the northeastern border 
of the United States is a series of inland seas, the Great 
Lakes, connected by water-ways with the Atlantic. The 
eastern coast, with its narrow ocean and many inlets, seems 
to invite access from Europe. The western coast, on the 
other hand, presents an uninviting front to Asia. It is 
washed by the broad Pacific, and its long shore from Can¬ 
ada to Mexico has few good harbors. 

Mountain systems. — The chief mountain systems of the 
continent extend along its eastern and western coasts. On 
the Atlantic side, there is the Appalachian system, with an 
average width of a hundred miles and an average eleva¬ 
tion of 2000 feet. The mountains lie near the New Eng¬ 
land coast, but at the south there is a wide coast plain 
which extends westward along the Gulf of Mexico. Near 
the Pacific lies the Cordillera system. It consists of great 
table-lands, elevated valleys, and lofty mountain ranges. 
It has an average width of a thousand miles, and some of 
its snow-capped peaks rise to a height of nearly 15,000 
feet. The Sierra Nevada, the Cascade, and the Rocky 
mountains are parts of this system. 
v Rivers. — On the northeastern coast of America, there 
are two large river systems, the Nelson-Winnipeg and the 
St. Lawrence; both flow northward and are closed by ice 
during the winter. The eastern coast is broken by nu¬ 
merous rivers. In New England, where the mountains 
are near the shore, the streams are short and rapid; they 
furnish good water-power, but are not navigable like the 
longer, slower rivers of the south. On the western coast, 
there are few rivers. Two mighty streams, the Columbia 


THE BEGINNINGS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 3 

and the Colorado, cut their way through deep gorges to 
the ocean. In the central valley, there is the Mississippi; 


Colorado Canon 



this river and its great, easy-going, navigable branches 
drain over a million square miles of land. 

Climate and soil. — Its vast extent and varied elevation 
give our continent great variety of climate. The winters 
are generally colder and the summers hotter than in the 
same latitude in Europe. In most parts of the United 
States, the rainfall is sufficient to secure good crops. 
There is, however, a semi-arid and arid region east of the 
Rocky Mountains. The ocean breezes are deprived of 
their moisture by the mountains and plains surrounding 








4 


SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE 


this region, and the rainfall is scanty; in some places, 
there are months and even years without rain. 

The soil is varied in character; for the most part, it is 
fertile. The Mississippi Valley, a vast extent of fertile 
land with abundant rainfall and favorable climate, is one 
of the greatest agricultural regions of the world. 

Mineral resources. — North America is rich in mineral 
resources. Coal and iron, the most useful, are found in 
nearly all sections. The Appalachian Mountains are a 
great coal field, rich also in iron, building stones, pottery 
clays, and other minerals and metals. The Cordilleras 
have vast rich deposits of coal, and of iron, silver, gold, 
and other metals. 

Vegetation.—The country has varied and abundant 
vegetation. The most important native plant is maize, or 
Indian corn, which is cultivated everywhere except in the 
coldest regions of the continent. Among other native 
crop plants are the potato, tomato, and tobacco. Wheat, 
rice, cotton, and most of our domestic plants are natives of 
the Old World that find here a congenial home. 

When white men first came to America, most of the 
country, except the central valley, was covered with forests. 
Along the eastern coast were forests of white, yellow, and 
other pines, and of maple, beech, birch, elm, ash, oak, 
hickory, chestnut, walnut, and cottonwood. 
In the west are great forests of spruce, fir, 
hemlock, cedar, yellow pine, and redwood; 
some of the western trees are hundreds of 
years old and have attained huge size. 

Animal life. — Most of our domestic ani¬ 
mals, like our domestic plants, were brought 
here from the Old World. The turkey is 
the only North American animal which has been domesti¬ 
cated. Among the natives of America are many game 



Wild Turkey 


THE BEGINNINGS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 


5 


birds and game or fur-bearing animals — quail and pigeon, 
deer, bear, beaver, bison or buffalo, and others. The 
waters along the coasts, especially the shoals of the north¬ 
east and northwest, abound in fish. Cod, mackerel, and 
herring are plentiful in the Atlantic waters; salmon and 
cod abound in the Pacific. 

Changes made by man. — In many ways, the natural 
features of a country influence the life of its inhabitants; 
the inhabitants also affect the natural features. American 
forests have been destroyed, and in their places have arisen 
farms, villages, towns, and cities. Deserts have been sup¬ 
plied with water by irrigation, and instead of barren wastes 
there are gardens, grain fields, and orchards. Swamps 
have been drained and made productive. Harbors and 
rivers have been dredged and deepened, and the courses of 
streams have been changed. 

Plant and animal life has been greatly changed by human 
agency. Most of our flowers, crop plants, orchard trees, 
and domestic animals, and many of the birds and weeds 
most familiar to us, are natives of other countries. They 
have been brought here by man, either intentionally or unin¬ 
tentionally. 

Summary. —North America is rich in natural advantages, and well 
adapted to be the home of a great nation. Its chief native crop plants 
are Indian corn, the potato, tomato, and tobacco. Most of our domestic 
plants and animals have been brought here from the Old World. 


2. The Indians 

Indians of North America.— The rich natural resources of 
America are just beginning to be used, for we are the 
youngest of the great nations of the world. A few 
hundred years ago, our forefathers were living in England 
and other countries of Europe; they had not seen nor 


6 


SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE 


even heard of this great continent. The only inhabitants 
of North America were the people whom we call Indians. 

There are still Indians in this country, but now they live 

chiefly on western 
lands set apart for 
them by our gov¬ 
ernment. Four 
hundred years ago, 
they roamed over 
the whole conti¬ 
nent of which 
their race had been 
masters for hun¬ 
dreds, perhaps 
thousands, of years. 
Yet they were not 
numerous. Fam¬ 
ine, disease, and 
fierce and frequent 
wars prevented their rapid increase. East of the Missis¬ 
sippi River, there were only 
a few hundred thousand peo¬ 
ple, probably fewer than are 
now in one city like Baltimore. 

The Indians of the United 
States had no records to give 
us information about their 
origin and early history. We 
can only describe them as 
they were when white men 
first came to this country. 

In general appearance, the 
Indians of different sections 
were much alike. They had 




A Typical Indian Face 



















THE BEGINNINGS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 


7 


copper-colored skin, small black eyes, high cheek bones, 
and coarse, straight, black hair. There were, however, 
many tribes which differed in appearance, language, and 
customs. 

Savage tribes. — In the north and northwest, there were 
savage tribes which had no settled homes. They moved 
from place to place in search of fish, game, roots, and 
herbs which were their food. They made rude shelters of 
skin or bark, or dwelt, like wild beasts, in holes and 
caves. 

Half-civilized tribes.—Very unlike these savage tribes 
were the partly-civilized ones which inhabited the moun- 



Puebios in New Mexico 


tainous country from New Mexico and Arizona southward 
to Chili. They depended on agriculture for food, and 
raised crops of maize and vegetables. They made pottery 
and were skilled in the art of weaving; some of these 
tribes had a sort of picture-writing and knew how to work 
soft metals. Their homes were built of wood, stone, or 
adobe, — that is, sun-dried clay. 




8 


SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE 


To protect themselves against neighboring savage tribes, 
some of these Indians built their homes on steep cliffs 
along the streams. These houses were perched like 
swallows’ nests on the rocks and were reached by ladders 
or steep paths. They consisted of several stories, one 
rising behind and above another like steps. Inside were 
many little rooms, crowded together like cells in a great 
honeycomb. Sometimes one, two, or even three thousand 
people lived in one of these village houses. The Spanish 
name for these strongholds is pueblos , meaning ‘villages,’ 
and the people who live in them are called Pueblo Indians. 
Some tribes in New Mexico and Arizona still have such 
houses and lead lives much like those of their fore¬ 
fathers. 

Barbarous tribes. —The Indians most interesting to us 
are the half-savage or barbarous tribes that occupied the 
eastern part of the United States and were the helpful 
friends or the deadly foes of the white men who settled 
the country. These barbarous Indians lived in rude huts 
or in wigwams made of poles covered with skins or bark; 
these dwellings were grouped together in villages from 
which the men wandered far and often in hunting and 
fighting parties. 

Their tools and weapons. —The use of iron was unknown 
to the Indians, and they made their tools and weapons of 
wood, stone, and bone. Their weapons were bows and 
arrows, spears, wooden clubs, and stone axes. Their 
household goods consisted of some skins or mats for beds 
and a few pots and dishes made of wood, clay, or soap¬ 
stone. Some of the northern tribes made light, strong 
canoes of birch bark; the bark was fastened on a cedar 
frame by means of roots or deerskin strings. The south¬ 
ern Indians used ‘dugout ’ boats. These ‘ dugouts ’ were 
made of logs hollowed by burning the wood and scraping 


THE BEGINNINGS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 


it with j-ude knives of stone or shell; sometimes they 
were large enough to carry thirty or forty men. 

Wampum.— Like other barbarous people, the Indians 
were fond of bright colors and ornaments. They loved to 
streak their bodies with paint and to adorn themselves 
with ornaments of shells and feathers. Beads of shell, 
called wampum, were strung to¬ 
gether into necklaces, bracelets, and 
belts. The color and arrangement 
of the beads had certain meanings, 
and wampum served as records as 
well as ornaments. It was used for 
money also, but this was a matter of 
small importance. A little copper, 
certain kinds of clay and stone, and 
beads of seashells were the chief 
articles of trade. The stream, field, 
and forest were the storehouses 
from which the Indians obtained 
food and clothing. 

Occupations of men.— As fishing 
and hunting supplied their chief 
needs, these occupations were not 
sports, as with us, but work. The 
men, or ‘ braves,’ roamed about the 
country, — fishing, hunting, and 
fighting. When not busy with these 
duties, they spent their time sleep¬ 
ing, gambling, playing games, danc¬ 
ing, making weapons or canoes. 

Occupations of women. — The 
duties of the Indian women, or 



Wampum 


‘squaws,’ were many and varied. They made the clothes 
of the family,—shirts or mantles, waist cloths, leggings, 












IO 


SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE 


and moccasins of skins, usually deerskin or buffalo hide. 
They collected dry sticks and kindled a fire by rubbing 
two sticks together or by striking one hard stone against 
another. In the ashes they baked sweet potatoes, ears of 
corn, and bread made of dried corn pounded into meal; 
game and fish were roasted on the coals or boiled in pots 
made of clay; a favorite dish was succotash, a stew of 
corn and beans. 

The women planted, cultivated, and harvested the little 
crops of corn, beans, pumpkins, and tobacco. These were 
raised on patches of fertile ground, cleared by burning or 
girdling the trees. The soil was tilled with rude plows 
made of sharpened sticks and with hoes made of stone or 
shells fastened to sticks. The Indians had no domestic 
animals except dogs, which were used for hunting and for 
food. 

Children. — Indian babies, or * papooses,’ were wrapped 
in skins and tied on wooden frames till they were old 
enough to walk. These papooses were laid on the ground 
or carried about on their mothers’ backs. Children wore 
no clothing except in winter when they had deerskin shirts. 
When they were four or five years old, the girls began to 
help their mothers. The boys learned to run, swim, play 
ball, and use the bow and arrow; they delighted in sports 
which prepared them to join their fathers in fishing and 
hunting parties and on the warpath. 

Indian traits. — Their outdoor life made the Indians 
hardy and active, quick of eye, keen of ear, and gave them 
great powers of endurance. They could travel seventy-five 
miles a day, with no food except a handful of corn. They 
could go in a straight line through the tangled forest, guided 
by the growth of moss and trees. Trampled turf or a 
few broken twigs informed them as to the whereabouts of 
game, the number and movements of an enemy. They 


























































. 





















I 
























Wnfa ■'/} 

\ s>ix, ^>,„r 


p" *kaii> tl 
XJWlin; 


■ l ^d.N.'V 


jjJHftNVvv 


AlJ, V 






























THE BEGINNINGS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 


II 


lived and died bravely, and bore hardship and suffering 
with patient courage. They seldom fought in the open, 
however, preferring secret attack from ambush or by night. 
They were cruel and revengeful; they seldom forgot or 
forgave an injury, and they delighted in scalping their 
enemies and in torturing their prisoners to death. 

The Indians had little idea of a supreme God, but they 
looked forward to a future life in a happy hunting ground. 
As a rule, they were superstitious; they believed in signs 
and dreams, and worshiped the powers of nature, personi¬ 
fied as animals. 

Government. — In general government and habits, the 
eastern tribes were much alike. Several related families 
usually lived together in the same wigwam or house. 
These families formed a clan. The clan was generally 
named for some animal from which its members claimed 
to be descended, and had, as its mark or badge, an image 
of this animal, called a totem. Each clan chose its own 
chief to lead it in war and its own sachem, or ruler, for 
time of peace. These chiefs had little power except the 
influence which their eloquence or courage gave them. A 
number of clans having the same language formed a tribe 
governed by its council of sachems. Tribes related in 
language formed a group called a family. 

Muskhogean, Algonquins, and Iroquois. — The eastern In¬ 
dians belonged to three great families which included many 
tribes. In the south were the Muskhogean, who occupied a 
fertile country and had farms and villages. 

Most of the country from the Carolinas to Hudson Bay 
was inhabited by the Algonquins, the most numerous of 
the three families and the one with which the English 
settlers came first into contact. Most of our adopted 
Indian words — such as wigwam, squaw, papoose, wam¬ 
pum, moccasin — are from Algonquin dialects. 


12 


SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE 


Scattered among the Algonquins, there were tribes of 
Iroquois, the ablest and most warlike of the eastern Indians. 
Many of the Iroquois ‘ long houses,’ cabins of logs or 
bark, were large enough to hold twenty or thirty families. 
Their tribes south of the Great Lakes were united in a 
confederacy called the Five Nations; it was said to have 
been formed by an Iroquois hero, Hiawatha. 

Mound Builders.—In the United States, especially in 
the Ohio Valley, there are thousands of great earthen 
mounds. Some are square, some are round, some are 
shaped like serpents, birds, or beasts. Pipes, weapons, 
and vessels of various kinds have been found in these 
mounds. It was once thought that they were erected by 
a race which has disappeared; now, the general belief is 
that the Mound Builders were the ancestors of the people 
found in America by the white men. 

Summary. — The Indians were the early inhabitants of North 
America. There were savage tribes in the north and northwest, partly- 
civilized tribes in the southwest, and barbarous tribes in the east. The 
men of the barbarous tribes spent their time fishing, hunting, and fight¬ 
ing ; the women did the work at home and raised the little crops of corn, 
beans, pumpkins, and tobacco. The Indians were gathered together in 
clans, each led by its own war chief and its sachem. A number of clans 
formed a tribe, and tribes related in language formed a family. The 
three chief families of eastern Indians were the Muskhogean, the Algon¬ 
quins, and the Iroquois. 

3. The Coming of the Northmen 

Northmen.—While Indian tribes roamed over North 
America, our forefathers were living in Europe. It is 
thought that the Northmen were the first Europeans who 
visited this country, and that they discovered it by accident. 
These Northmen lived hundreds of years ago in Scandi¬ 
navia, the northwestern part of Europe. They were 


iooo] THE BEGINNINGS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 


!3 




skillful, fearless sailors, like their descendants, the Danes, 
Norwegians, and Swedes. 

The Northmen discov¬ 
ered Iceland and settled it 
about the ninth century, — 
that is, between the years 
800 and 900. A century 
later, they established a 
colony on the coast of 
Greenland. 

Discovery of Vinland 
[1000]. —About the year 
1000, a ship going to Ice¬ 
land from Greenland was 
driven southwest by storms, 
and the sailors saw an un¬ 
known land to the west. 

The next year, Leif Erik- 
son, called ‘ Leif the 

Lucky,’ sailed with thirty-five men to seek the shores of 
which his countrymen had caught a 
glimpse. He landed on the northeastern 
coast of America and explored the coun¬ 
try. 

The Northmen found‘self-sown wheat’ 
— probably wild rice — and such quanti¬ 
ties of wild grapes that the land was 
given the name Vinland, meaning ‘ wine 
land.’ 

For some years, occasional voyages 
were made from Greenland to Vinland. 
These became less and less frequent and 

From Statue by Anne Whitney Anally Ceased. The Northmen forgot 

LeifErikson their western discovery, and so far as the 


An Old Buried Ship discovered in 
Scandinavia 







14 


SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE 


world was concerned, their voyages were as if they had 
never been made. The land they had found was lost 
again. Century after century, the great continent lay un¬ 
visited, forgotten. Only the old sagas, or stories, of Ice¬ 
land kept record of the discovery of the far western coast 
of ‘ Vinland the Good.’ 

Summary. — The old Icelandic sagas say that the Northmen came 
to the coast of North America about the year 1000. They called the 
country Vinland. They made no permanent settlement, and in course 
of time their discovery was forgotten. 


4. Europe in the Middle Ages 

European trade with Indies. — The story of the Indians, 
the early inhabitants of our country, forms only a small part 
of its history. Its discovery by the Northmen was merely an 
incident. The history of the American people really begins 
with Europe in the Middle Ages. 

The Middle Ages is the name given to the period of 
time beginning about the eighth century and ending in the 
fifteenth with the invention of the printing press and the 
discovery of America. In early times, Europe was occupied 
by many little warring tribes. As civilization and Christian¬ 
ity spread, nations were formed which grew strong and rich. 

Trade increased. There was growing demand for spices, 
drugs, silk, sugar, ivory, pearls, diamonds, and other things 
which were found in the Indies, as southeastern Asia was 
called. These goods were not brought directly from the 
Indies to Europe; they came by long, slow, and difficult 
routes and changed hands many times on the way. They 
were conveyed by camel caravans across the deserts and 
mountains of central Asia or by sail or row boats over the 
stormy, pirate-haunted Indian Ocean and the Persian Gulf. 
At last, they reached seaports on the Mediterranean or the 


1453] THE BEGINNINGS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 


15 


Black Sea. Thence, they were carried by ships to Euro¬ 
pean ports. Gradually, two cities on the Italian coast, 
Venice and Genoa, gained control of the eastern trade. It 
was said that no one could season a dinner without adding 
to the profits of one of these cities. 

Marco Polo’s travels. — In the thirteenth century, eastern 
Asia was visited for the first time by a European. This 
was Marco Polo, a native of Venice. He spent twenty 
years in Asia; at one time, he ruled a province under the 
authority of the Great Khan, or king of the country. In 
a book about his travels, Polo described the wide extent and 
vast wealth of the Great Khan’s possessions. He told about 
the huge cities and swarming people of Cathay, or China, 
where he lived many years. East of Asia, he said, there 
was an ‘Ocean Sea,’ on which he had sailed. Near the 
Asian coast, there was an island kingdom, Cipango, or 
Japan, which he did not visit, that he was told had palaces 
“entirely roofed with fine gold” and paved with golden 
slabs. 

Polo described truthfully what he saw, but he repeated 
many extravagant tales which he heard. His story was so 
wonderful that at first people regarded it as a mere fairy 
tale ; as they learned more about the East, they found that 
so much of his tale was true that they began to believe it 
all. Bold adventurers longed to visit Cathay and Cipango 
and bring back their treasures. 

Trade routes seized by Turks. — Instead of carrying out 
these plans, it seemed as if Europeans were to lose even 
their trade with the Indies. In the fifteenth century, the 
fierce, barbarous Turks made themselves masters of west¬ 
ern Asia and gained control of the trade routes to eastern 
Asia. They captured Constantinople [1453] which was 
the great trade center. Sometimes they demanded heavy 
toll from the traders; sometimes they plundered caravans 


i6 


SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE 



Trade Routes to the East 

The dark part of the map shows parts of the eastern hemisphere unknown at this time. The whole western hemisphere was undiscovered. 





THE BEGINNINGS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 


17 


and killed or enslaved the men engaged in the traffic. 
They made trade so difficult and dangerous that Euro¬ 
peans began to seek new routes to the East. 

Europeans seek new routes. — Naturally, the first plan 
was to sail around Africa. The Portuguese were the first 
to attempt this all-sea route. Prince Henry, called the 
Navigator, sent out expedition after expedition in search 
of a way around Africa to the Indies. Some ships went 
only a short distance down the long coast, others sailed 
hundreds of miles, but in the end all turned back. The 
sailors were discouraged by the seemingly-endless stretch 
of land. Their small ships were not built for long, rough 
voyages ; they had no charts nor maps to guide them, and 
they were just beginning to use the mariner’s compass. 

Even if it were possible, the voyage around the vast con¬ 
tinent of Africa would be long and slow. Was there no 
shorter route to the East ? Some wise men said that there 
was ; they said that a ship could sail west and reach the 
eastern shore of Asia. 

Beliefs about earth’s shape. — Most people then believed 
that the earth was flat, like a plate, and that if any one 
went to the edge, he would fall off. They said that the 
great Sea of Darkness, inhabited by dreadful monsters, 
circled around the known land. Many learned men, how¬ 
ever, laughed at these tales and asserted that the world 
was round. If this were true, of course if a man traveled 
far enough in any one direction, he would come back to 
the place from which he started. 

The scientists were right about the shape of the earth, 
but most of them made two mistakes. First, they thought 
that the earth was smaller than it really is, and so they 
supposed the western route to be much shorter than it 
is ; second, they did not know that there was a great 
continent in the ocean between Asia and Europe, and 


18 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE 

so they supposed that seamen could sail straight west to 
Asia. 



Summary. — During the Middle Ages, Europe carried on an im¬ 
portant trade with the Indies in silks, spices, and other things. This 
trade was interrupted by the Turks during the fifteenth century, and 
Europeans sought new trade routes. Some scientists believed that the 
earth was round, — not flat, as most people thought, — and they said that 
eastern Asia could be reached by sailing across the western ocean. 
Marco Polo, a Venetian who visited China during the thirteenth century, 
said that there was an open sea east of the country. No one knew that 
between Europe and Asia lay the great continent of America. 


5. Columbus and Other Discoverers 

Columbus and Cabot. — Bold seamen began to plan voy¬ 
ages across the western ocean in search of a new route to 
Asia. Foremost among the men who made such plans 
were two Italian seamen, Christopher Columbus and John 
Cabot. Both were natives of Genoa, the Italian city which 
had grown rich by the eastern trade and which was suffer¬ 
ing heavy loss from the Turkish control of the trade routes. 


































THE BEGINNINGS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 


19 


At Genoa there is still to be seen the house in which 
Columbus passed his childhood. A tablet bears this in¬ 
scription : “No home more worthy! Here under his 
father’s roof Christopher Columbus passed his boyhood 
and youth.” Young Columbus went to sea when he was 
about fourteen and became a daring and expert sailor. 
“Wherever ship had sailed, there have I journeyed,” he 
said, in later years. 

Columbus plans a western voyage. — In the course of 
time, he began to plan a voyage across the western ocean, 
where, so far as he knew, no ship had sailed. If he had 
ever heard of Vinland and the Northmen’s western voyages, 
he attached no importance to them. He was seeking, not 



The Fleet of Columbus 


a northern land of grapes and ‘ self-sown wheat,’ but the 
Spice Indies of the south and Cathay and Cipango de¬ 
scribed by Marco Polo. The more Columbus thought about 







20 


SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1492 


the subject and studied maps and charts, the more con¬ 
vinced he was that the world was round and that he could 
reach Asia by sailing westward. 

He tried in vain to get the king of Portugal to help him 
carry out his plan. Then he sent his brother to seek aid in 
England and in France. He himself went to present his 
cause to the king and queen of Spain. After many years, 
King F'erdinand and Queen Isabella agreed to aid his en¬ 
terprise. He obtained three small vessels, called caravels, 
— the Santa Maria , the Pinta , and the Nina. The three 



Columbian Exposition Model 
A Caravel 

carried only ninety men, but it was hard to secure even this 
small number. The wisest men of the kingdom had said 
that the plan of this “ foreign upstart ” was “ vain and 
impossible.” No wonder the common people distrusted it. 
They felt that to go forth on the unknown Sea of Darkness 
would be taking their lives in their hands. But at last the 
needed sailors were secured. Some were won by rewards, 
some were forced into service, some were taken from jails. 

Columbus’s first voyage [1492].—Columbus set sail 
from Palos, a Spanish seaport, one summer morning in 







The Landing of Columbus 













22 


SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1492 


1492. He carried with him a compass, a letter from the 
king and queen of Spain to the ruler of Cathay, and a 
year’s provisions. Instead of following the coast, as all 
mariners before him had done, he struck boldly out across 
the Atlantic, the dreaded Sea of Darkness. Day after 
day, week after week, he “ steered west and sailed day 
and night.” In vain his fearful, turbulent crew urged him 
to turn homeward. 

One night, ten weeks after he left Palos, Columbus saw 
a flickering light in the distance ; the next morning, October 
12, there lay before him a fair shore “very level, with 
very green trees and many streams.” Columbus went 
ashore, fell on his knees, kissed the earth, and gave thanks 
to God. Then he drew his sword, unfurled a banner, 
and took possession of the land in the name of the king 
and queen of Spain. This land was one of the Bahama 
Islands. Columbus thought that he had reached the 
Indies ; so he called the natives of the country Indians, 
the name which they retain to this day. He cruised 
about and discovered Cuba, Hayti, and other islands. 

Then he returned to Spain to carry news of his discovery 
which was proved by the display of people, plants, birds, 
pearls, and gold ornaments from the new land. He was 
loaded with honors, and a second expedition was promptly 
fitted out. 

His second voyage [1493]. — Instead of seeking criminals 
for a crew, he chose his companions among gentlemen and 
nobles. Five hundred men in seventeen vessels accom¬ 
panied him on his second voyage. They thought that the 
newly-discovered country was the treasure land described 
by Marco Polo, and they were eager to take possession of 
its gold, gems, silks, and spices. Instead of these, they 
found “ a wilderness peopled with naked savages.” They 
were disappointed and angry, and quarreled with Columbus. 


1497] THE BEGINNINGS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 


Line of Demarkation.—Spain and Portugal, the two 
chief seafaring countries of Europe, agreed to divide the 
New World between themselves. The division was to be 
made by a line, called the Line of Demarkation, run¬ 
ning north and south through the Atlantic. It was said 
that lands discovered east of this were to belong to Portu¬ 
gal, lands west of it were to belong to Spain. Other 
nations, however, did not acknowledge the exclusive right 
of Spain and Portugal to the New World, and they, too, 
sent out expeditions. 

Cabot’s voyages [1497, 1498]. — The king of England 
gave John Cabot and his three sons permission “to sail to 
all parts, countries, and seas 
of the east, of the west, and of 
the north.” They were not 
given authority to sail to the 
south; Spanish seamen had 
discovered the southern lands, 
and Spain had a strong navy 
to make good its claim to those 
regions. 

John Cabot was a bold Ital¬ 
ian seaman who had made his 
home in England “to follow 
the trade of merchandise.” 

With “ one little ship of Bristol and eighteen men,” he 
set sail in the spring of 1497. He crossed the stormy 
Atlantic, reached the coast of North America, which he 
thought was a part of Asia, and took possession of the 
country in the name of the king of England. Cabot saw 
no people, but he found snares for game, needles for mak¬ 
ing nets, and other signs of inhabitants. He was amazed 
at the multitude of fish along the coast, and reported that 
they were so numerous that they “almost crowded one 
another out of the water.” 



John Cabot 


24 


SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1498 


The next spring, John Cabot, or his son Sebastian made 
a second voyage with fifteen ships and explored the coast 
from Labrador southward. 

The English were disappointed at finding icebergs, fish, 
and fur-bearing animals where they expected gold and 
spices, or at least a passage to Asia. For years, they 
made few explorations and no settlements in the country 
and valued it only as “a codfish coast.” The banks of 
Newfoundland were visited every year by fishing expedi¬ 
tions from England and France. 

Columbus’s third voyage [1498]. — Meanwhile, Spanish 
expeditions went southward in search of the Indies. Co¬ 


lumbus, on his third voy¬ 
age, took a southerly 
course, and reached the 
mainland of South Amer¬ 
ica, which he supposed to 
be a part of Asia. He 
went on to the West 
Indies. There the dis¬ 
content against him be¬ 
came so violent that he 
was sent back to Spain in 
chains, like a criminal. 



Vespucci’s voyage 
[1497-1499?]. — About 
the time that Columbus 
made his third voyage, the 
coast of South America 
was visited by an Italian 
merchant, Amerigo Ves- 


Columbus in Chains 


pucci, or Americus Vespucius, according to the Latin form 
of his name. Vespucci wrote an interesting account of the 
country. He and others thought that this was a new con- 



1499 ] THE BEGINNINGS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 


25 


tinent, and that the land which Columbus had discovered 
was Asia or islands off its coast. A German geographer 
called the southern continent Americi terra , or the land of 
Americus, from the traveler who described it. The name 
America finally came to be applied to both the great 
western continents. 

Da Gama’s voyage [1499]. — While seamen from Spain 
and England were exploring the shores of America, a 
Portuguese sailor named Da Gama sailed around the 
coast of Africa, went to India, and returned to Portugal 
laden with spices, silks, and ivory. His cargo proved 
that he had reached the land which Columbus had sought. 

Columbus’s fourth voyage [1502]. — Da Gama’s discov¬ 
ery of a sea-way to India made Columbus more bent than 
ever upon finding a western route. He secured ships and 
men to make a fourth voyage. The story of this his 
last voyage, as told by his son who took part in it, is a sad 
one of famine, disease, tempests, mutinies of his crew, and 
quarrels with the natives. Columbus cruised along the 
coast of Mexico rich in treasures which would have brought 
him fortune and favor; but in search of the western sea route 
he passed them by. Worn-out with hardships and disease, 
he returned to Spain. 

He died two years later, believing to the last that the 
lands he had discovered were islands off the coast of Asia, 
and that he had found only a new route to the Indies. 
But the world was greater than he thought — and so was 
his discovery. 

Summary [1436-1502].— Expecting to reach Asia, Christopher 
Columbus sailed in 1492 across the Atlantic. He discovered some of 
the West Indies. He made three other voyages, discovering other is¬ 
lands and touching the coast of South America. Columbus was fol¬ 
lowed across the western ocean by other navigators. North America 
was discovered in 1497 by John Cabot, a seaman from England. South 


26 


SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1513 


America was visited and described by Amerigo Vespucci, and in his 
honor the name America was given to the New World. Da Gama, 
a Portuguese navigator, sailed around Africa and discovered an all-sea 
route to India. 


6. Early Explorers 

De Leon visits Florida [1513]. — At first, nothing seemed 
too wonderful to tell and to believe about the New World. 
Men said there was in it El Dorado, a land of gold. 
“ Gold is more plentiful there than copper is with us. . . . 
All their dripping pans are pure gold . . . and as for 
rubies and diamonds, they go forth on holidays and gather 
them by the seashore to hang on their children’s coats and 
stick in their children’s caps.” Another story said that 
there was in the New World a fountain the waters of 
which gave everlasting youth to whoever drank of them. 

Gray-haired Ponce de Leon, who had accompanied Co¬ 
lumbus on his second voyage, sailed in search of the Foun¬ 
tain of Youth. On Easter Sunday, he landed on a sandy 
peninsula, beautiful with live oaks, palmettos, magnolias, 
and many flowers. Disappointed and gray-haired still, he 
turned from its shores; for nowhere in the fair land which 
he called Florida could he find the fountain that he sought. 

Balboa discovers Pacific Ocean. — The year that De Leon 
visited Florida, Balboa, a Spanish navigator, explored the 
Isthmus of Panama. From a mountain peak, he beheld a 
broad ocean. He made his way to the shore; clad in 
armor, he waded into the ocean and took possession of it 
in the name of the king of Spain. 

Magellan’s ship sails around globe [1519]. — Six years 
later, Magellan, a Portuguese navigator in the service of 
Spain, started on an eventful voyage. Passing through the 
strait which now bears his name, he struck out boldly 
across the western ocean which he called Pacific, meaning 



isio) THE BEGINNINGS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 


27 


‘ peaceful.’ He discovered the Philippine Islands, and there 
he was killed in a skirmish with the natives. His ship 
continued its westward course. After a three-years’ cruise, 
it returned to Spain with a crew of eighteen half-starved 
men, the first seamen who ever made the circuit of the 
globe. Their voyage did more than discover a western 
route; it proved positive¬ 
ly that South America is 
a continent and not a 
part of Asia. 

Spanish conquests. — In 
the New World, the 
Spaniards found at last 
the treasures that they 
craved. They discovered 
the pearl fisheries of Ven¬ 
ezuela and the gold and 
silver mines of Mexico 
and Peru. They robbed 
native homes and temples 
and graves of their treas¬ 
ures, never seeming to 
think that the Indians 
had any rights which 
ought to be respected. 

The stories of the con¬ 
quest of Mexico and of 

Peru by little bands of Cortez, the Spanish Conqueror of Mexico 
Spanish adventurers are 

sad tales of the cruelty of the invaders and the sufferings 
of the natives. A Spanish writer says, “With mine own 
eyes I saw kingdoms as full of people as hives are of bees, 
and now where are they ? . . . almost all have perished.” 
“ The men perished in the gold mines with hunger and 










































28 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1528 


labor, the women perished in the fields under whips and 
cudgels.” To supply hardier laborers for the mines 
and fields, negroes were brought from Africa. Thus be¬ 
gan the curse of negro slavery in the New World. 

Explorations in United States. — In search of new treas¬ 
ure lands, the Spaniards explored the country to the north. 
The stories of Narvaez, De Soto, and Coronado, the first 
explorers of the United States, are records of wonderful 
hardships, courage, and cruelty. 

Narvaez’s expedition [1528]. — Narvaez landed in Florida 
with about four hundred men, provided with food enough 
to last only a few days. He marched through the pathless 
wilderness, expecting to find kingdoms and treasures; in¬ 
stead, he found fierce, hostile Indians lurking in swamps 
and forests. After suffering severely from hunger and 
disease, at last the Spaniards reached the Gulf of Mexico. 
There they built frail boats and embarked. They were 
shipwrecked in a storm and only four men escaped. After 
eight years and a pitiful, wonderful journey of 2000 miles, 
these men made their way to a Spanish settlement on the 
Pacific coast of Mexico. They had walked across the con¬ 
tinent, had been among many tribes of Indians, and had 
heard tales of cities rich in gold. 

De Soto’s expedition [1539]. — Cabeza de Vaca, one of 
the four survivors of Narvaez’s band, met in Mexico a 
young daring Spanish soldier, Hernando De Soto. De 
Soto had gone to the New World with “ nothing else of 
his own save his sword and his shield ”; he had taken 
part in the conquest of Peru and had gained a vast fortune. 
He listened with interest to the story of Cabeza de Vaca’s 
journey, and resolved to explore the northern land, hoping 
to find treasures like those of Peru and Mexico. 

It was easy to get adventurers to accompany him. With 
an army of several hundred men, he landed in Florida one 


1539], THE BEGINNINGS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 


29 


May day eleven years after Narvaez’s ill-fated expedition. 
He found the Indians of the region, enraged by the cruelty 
of De Leon and Narvaez, “ as fierce as mad dogs.” De 
Soto added fuel to the fire of their hatred; an old histo¬ 
rian says that “ he was much given to the sport of slaying 
Indians.” 

Beset by the difficulties which had overcome De Leon 
and Narvaez, De Soto marched through the country. The 
exact route that he followed is not known. He wandered 
for months through the southeastern part of the United 
States. His men suffered terribly from disease, from In¬ 
dian attacks, and from lack of food. At last, they reached 
“a deep and very furious river,” so wide that a man 
standing on the farther shore could not be distinguished 
from a stump. This was the Mississippi, so called from 
an Algonquin word meaning ‘ great river.’ The Spaniards 
made boats and crossed the stream, wandered through 
the western country for several months, then returned to 
the Mississippi. De Soto was stricken with fever and 
died. To conceal his death from the Indians, his follow¬ 
ers buried him in the river. They built rude boats and 
made their way down the river and along the coast. 
Months later, the survivors of the band reached a Spanish 
settlement in Mexico. 

Coronado’s expedition [1540]. — While De Soto’s party 
was exploring the eastern wilderness, another band of 
Spaniards was wandering through the west. Coronado 
left Mexico with an army of three hundred Spaniards and 
eight hundred Indians, and marched in search of seven 
rich cities of which he had heard. These cities proved to 
be Indian pueblos, or cliff dwellings, such as are still seen 
in Arizona and New Mexico. The Spaniards conquered 
the Indian strongholds and shot or burned many of their 
prisoners. Continuing their journey, they went probably 


30 


SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1540 


as far as central Kansas. They found streams flowing 
through great rocky chasms, and wide, treeless plains over 
which roamed bands of fierce Indians and vast herds of 
“ crook-backed cows,” as they called the buffalo or bison; 



Supposed Buffalo Real Buffalo 


but nowhere did they find gold and cities. After travel¬ 
ing weary hundreds of miles, they returned at last to 
Mexico. 

Verrazano’s voyage [1524]. — France, like England, 
refused to recognize the right of Spain and Portugal to 
divide the New World between themselves. * Where was 
the will,’ asked Francis I., the French king, ‘by which 
Father Adam had made them his sole heirs? ’ 

King Francis sent Verrazano, an Italian seaman, to 
explore the coast of America. The first voyages of western 
discovery for each of the four great nations — Spain, Eng¬ 
land, Portugal, and France — were made by Italians — 
Columbus, Cabot, Vespucci, and Verrazano. The decline 
of Italian commerce had thrown out of employment many 
seamen who turned to other nations for occupation. Ver¬ 
razano was the first navigator to explore and describe the 
coast of the United States. He sailed along the shore 
from North Carolina to Newfoundland and took possession 
of the country, which he called New France, in the name 
of the French king. 

Cartier’s voyages [1534]. — Ten years later, Jacques 
Cartier, a bold French seaman, crossed the Atlantic in 






1534] THE BEGINNINGS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 31 


search of a northwestern route to Asia. Cartier explored 
the northern coast and entered “a goodly great gulf” 
which he named St. Lawrence. The next summer, he 
returned and sailed up the St. Lawrence River. He built 
a rude fort upon the heights where Quebec now stands, 
and ascended the river as far as the site of Montreal. 

French attempts to make settlements. — An unsuccessful 
attempt was made to establish a colony in Canada. Later, 
French Protestants called Huguenots made two unsuccess- 



The Spanish Gate, St. Augustine 


ful attempts to settle on the southern coast. The first 
settlement was in South Carolina, called Carolana in 
honor of the French king, Charles IX. This settlement was 
destroyed by fever and by famine which reduced the colo¬ 
nists to such straits they ate their shoes and leather jackets. 

The second attempt at settlement was in Florida. This 
colony was destroyed by a band of Spaniards who built, 
in 1565, a fort at St. Augustine — the beginning of the 




32 


SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1565 


city which is the oldest permanent settlement in the 
United States. 

English sea captains. — In two ways, the English got a 
share of the New World treasures. One was by a slave 
trade, bringing negroes from Africa and selling them to 
the Spaniards. English seamen, however, found an easier 
way of getting treasures than by the slave trade. They 
took advantage of the fact that Spain and England were 
on unfriendly terms, and they preyed on the Spanish ships 



An Old English Warship 


bearing gold and silver from Mexico and Peru. One little 
English ship would attack a huge Spanish vessel, or even 
a whole fleet, and bear off its treasures. For daring cour¬ 
age, the English sea captains of the sixteenth century 
have never been surpassed. 

Drake’s voyage around world [1577]. — The most famous 
of these seamen was Sir Francis Drake whom the Span¬ 
iards called “the Dragon of the Seas.” On an expedition 
to Panama, he heard about the great western ocean which 
Balboa had discovered. Drake climbed to the top of a 








1577 ] THE BEGINNINGS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 


33 


tree and thence beheld the broad Pacific; immediately he 
resolved to “sail once in an English ship on that sea.” 
Five years later, he started on his famous voyage around 
the world. On the way, he attacked Spanish ships and 
settlements and captured vast stores of treasure. At one 
time, we are told, his men, “ being weary, contented them¬ 
selves with as many bars and wedges of gold as they could 
carry, burying above fifteen tons of silver in the sand and 
under old trees.” The old records give exact lists of the 
treasures taken ; but of the countries visited they say 
only that the seamen “saw many strange birds, beasts, 
fishes, fruits, trees, and plants too tedious to mention.” 

With only one ship, Drake passed through the Strait of 
Magellan and up the western coast of America. He 
entered “ a fair and good bay ” on the California coast. 
In the name of the English queen, Elizabeth, he took 
possession of the country, which he called New Albion. 
After sailing northward as far as Oregon, he turned to the 
southwest, crossed the Pacific, and returned safe to Eng¬ 
land. 

Spain in New World, — Thus, explorers from Spain, 
England, and France sailed along the coast of America, 
touching here and there, claiming for the nations that they 
represented the regions visited. Spain, indeed, claimed 
the whole western continent; the western ocean was 
called the ‘ Spanish Main,’ and seamen who sailed there 
under the flag of any other country were put to death as 
pirates. For fifty years, Spain held the foremost place in 
America. It sent forth the men who discovered the New 
World, found the Pacific Ocean, made the first circuit of 
the globe, coasted along the Atlantic and Pacific shores, 
and explored the interior. Love of adventure and of gold 
brought the Spaniards by thousands to the New World, 
especially to the south where they found countries rich in 


34 


SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1588 


gold, silver, and gems, and inhabited by unwarlike, easily- 
conquered people. Spain gained vast wealth and for a 
while it prospered. 

But in the sixteenth century, its power declined. Its 
rich Dutch provinces rebelled and won their independ¬ 
ence. Later, it came into conflict with England on the 
sea. Again Spain lost. The defeat of its Great Armada 
[1588] by the courage and skill of English seamen and 
by the tempests of the northern seas was a blow from 
which Spain never recovered. This defeat cleared the 
way for the English and other nations to settle America. 



Results of explorations. — America had been discovered 
near its narrowest part, and this was explored ; for a long 
time, men did not know that it broadened at the north and 
the south into great continents. Year after year, seamen 
sailed up and down the coast, entering bays and rivers, 
hoping at each indentation to find a water-way to the Pa¬ 
cific. Explorers wandered to and fro in the land, pene- 
















THE BEGINNINGS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 


35 


trating forests, crossing streams, climbing mountains, 
following great canons, crossing “ mighty plains and sandy 
heaths, smooth and wearisome and bare of wood.” In 
spite of sea voyages and land explorations, people remained, 
for more than a century, ignorant of the size and shape of 
North America. 

Slowly but surely knowledge grew. As years passed, 
men accepted North America for what it was, — a place 
the treasure of which must be of their own making. 
Wealth and cities and nations were to be there, but they 
were not to be discovered. They were to be built up and 
created; and the task required patience, perseverance, 
hard work, and business methods. . Colonies were to be es¬ 
tablished in the wilderness, and the only firm and safe 
foundations for colonies are agriculture and trade. 

Summary [1513-1588]. — By slow and painful degrees and many 
explorations, people learned the size and character of North America. 
The first explorers were Spaniards, — De Leon who visited and named 
Florida, Balboa who discovered the Pacific, and Narvaez, De Soto, and 
Cbronado who explored the United States. The ship of a Spanish 
captain, Magellan, made the first circuit of the globe, but an English¬ 
man, Sir Francis Drake, was the first sea captain to make that voyage. 
The first French explorers were Verrazano who visited the eastern 
.coast of America, and Cartier who discovered the St Lawrence Gulf 
and River. The first permanent settlement in the United States was 
made, in 1565, at St. Augustine, in Florida, by the Spaniards. 


CHAPTER II 


ENGLISH COLONIES 

i. Attempts to settle North America 

Spain, England, and France in North America.— Nearly 
a century had now passed since the discovery of the New 
World. The Spaniards claimed the whole northern con¬ 
tinent, but they made few attempts to occupy the regions 
explored by the ill-fated expeditions of Narvaez, De Soto, 

and Coronado. Their only 
settlements north of Mexico 
were at St. Augustine in Flor¬ 
ida and at Santa Fe in New 
Mexico. 

While Spain was busy seek¬ 
ing treasures in Mexico and 
South America, England and 
France attempted to settle the 
eastern coast of North America. 
England wished to have colo¬ 
nies there in order to offset the 
Spanish colonies and to develop 
English commerce. Love of 
adventure and hope of gain made men join expeditions to 
the New World, just as these motives lead them to-day to 
explore Africa or to go to the gold fields of Alaska. 

Ralegh and Gilbert—A foremost part in the work of 
“western planting” was taken by Sir Walter Ralegh. 
Ralegh was a courtier, scholar, author, soldier, and states- 

36 





ENGLISH COLONIES 


37 


* 584 ] 


man, one of the bravest and most brilliant Englishmen of 
the sixteenth century. By his efforts to settle America 
he earned the title of ‘ the father of English coloniza¬ 
tion.’ 

Ralegh, however, was not the first Englishman to under¬ 
take to colonize America. He was preceded by his half- 
brother, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, who obtained from Queen 
Elizabeth a patent, or written permission, for “planting 
and inhabiting certain northern parts of America,” which 
were claimed by England on account of the discoveries of 
Cabot. Gilbert came to America, but on his homeward 
voyage he was overtaken by a tempest, and in the stormy 
September night his little vessel went down. Some of his 
fellow-voyagers escaped. They told how calmly Sir Hum¬ 
phrey met death, reminding his comrades, “ We are as 
near to heaven by sea as by land.” 

Ralegh took up Gilbert’s 

patent and devoted his for- “ *“ ^ - 

tune and energy to the 
effort to “ plant an English 
nation in America.” 

Voyage of exploration 
[1584]. — The year after 
Gilbert’s fatal voyage, Ra¬ 
legh sent an expedition to 
explore the coast in search 
of a suitable site for a colony. 

The Englishmen reached 
Roanoke Island, off the 
coast of North Carolina, and 
found the natives friendly 
and hospitable. After a two-months’ visit, the explorers 
described the land as “ the most plentiful, sweet, fruitful, 
and wholesome of all the world,” and the people as “ most 



An Indian Town 




38 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1584 


gentle, loving, and faithful . . . and such as live after the 
manner of the golden age.” In honor of Elizabeth, called 
the Virgin Queen, the name Virginia was given to the 
middle coast of North America. 

Ralegh’s first colony [1585].—The next year, Ralegh 
sent a hundred men to settle on Roanoke Island. This 
first English colony in America was badly managed, and 
in a few months the colonists returned to England. They 
took with them some American plants, the uses of which 
they had learned from the natives. These were Indian 
corn, which “maketh a very good bread,” tobacco, which 
the Indians said “would cure being tired,” and potatoes 
which “when boiled had a goodly taste.” 

‘ The Lost Colony ’ [1587]. — Sir Walter Ralegh sent out 
another colony with Captain John White as governor. 
Instead of being composed of men, like the first band, this 
included some women and children. Soon after they landed, 
Mistress Dare, one of the colonists, had a daughter. This 
first child of English parentage born in America was named 
Virginia Dare. Soon Captain White returned home for 
needed supplies. England was preparing to fight the great 
Spanish Armada, and it was three years before White 
could get supplies and return to Roanoke Island. He 
found the place “ desert, tenantless, and silent.” Of over 
a hundred persons, not one remained. The only trace left 
by them was the word “ Croatoan,” the name of an Indian 
tribe, carved on a tree. Whether the settlers had been 
killed by Indians, had died of famine and disease, or had 
been carried off and adopted by an Indian tribe, no one 
knew. No one knows to this day. 

Ralegh resigns his patent. — Ralegh found that the estab¬ 
lishing of a colony was too great an undertaking for one 
person; so he gave up his patent to a company in 
London. 






ENGLISH COLONIES 


39 


1608] 

“ I shall yet live to see it an English nation,” he said. 

He did live to see an English colony established north 
of Roanoke Island. In course of time, the flourishing 
colony of North Carolina grew up on the coast to which 
he had sent ship after ship. In his honor, its chief city 
was named Raleigh. 

French settlement at Quebec [1608]. — While the English 
were trying to settle the middle coast, the French were send¬ 
ing expeditions to the northern coast which they claimed on 
account of the discoveries of Verrazano. For nearly a 
century, their fishing vessels had frequented the northern 
waters, and by degrees a fur trade had sprung up with the 
Indians. A French company was organized to carry on 
this trade, and posts were established on the St. Lawrence 
River, the gateway to the fur country of the north. Early 
in the seventeenth century, a settlement was made at 
Quebec. Of the twenty-eight settlers, twenty died the 
first winter. For many years, the colony had to struggle 
with hardships and lack of supplies. 

“ We ate our peas by count,” 
said its founder, Samuel de Cham¬ 
plain. 

Champlain — Champlain is well 
called ‘the father of New France.’ 

For a quarter of a century, he held 
the foremost place in French ex¬ 
ploration and colonization. There 
is no more attractive figure in the 
early history of America than this 
brave, gentle, daring, self-sacrific¬ 
ing, capable, Christian gentleman. 

His visit to Lake Champlain [1609]. — Champlain made 
friends with the Algonquins, his Indian neighbors along the 
St. Lawrence. The summer after Quebec was founded, he 





3MV3Q 


SCALE OF MILES 

O 200 400 600 800 1000 



Columbus 

♦ ♦o + + 1st voyage, 1492-’93 
»oo<>ock>o 2d voyage, 1493-’96 
'ceccGc 3d voyage, 1498-1500 
oonoooc 4th voyage, 1502-’04 
Cabot, 1497-’98 
oo. o-o-o Vespucci, 1499 
::::::::: De Leon, 1513 
== = = = Verrazano, 1524 


_Narvaez, 1535 

_Cartier, 1534-35 

e>.&•&•> De Soto, 1529-’42 
_>_>_>_» Coronado, 1540-’41 

. Drake, 1579 

.* + ++ + Hudson, 1610-’ll 

Champlain, 1615-16 
= x=x= Joliet and Marquette, 1673 
_ De La Salle, 1681-’82 

















1609] 


ENGLISH COLONIES 


4 i 


accompanied a band of them on an expedition against the 
Iroquois who occupied central New York. The French 
explorer wished to visit a region which the Indians had de¬ 
scribed to him, “ a large lake filled with beautiful islands, 
and with a fine country surrounding it.” On the western 
shores of this lake, now called Champlain, the Algonquins 
met the Iroquois in battle. Champlain with his musket 
aided his friends, and the Iroquois, who had never before 
seen firearms, fled in terror from ‘ the stick ’ which sent 
forth noise and smoke, wounds and death. But it was a 
costly victory for Champlain and his nation. From the 
time he fought beside the Algonquins, the fierce Iroquois 
tribes of the Five Nations were the deadly enemies of the 
French. 

Except for this quarrel with the Iroquois, the French 
were on good terms with the natives. They adapted them¬ 
selves to Indian character and customs, and often adopted 
native dress. French traders seeking furs and French 
missionaries teaching the Christian religion went in and 
out of the wigwams, as friends and brothers. 

Virginia Company [ 1606 ].—Two years before the 
French founded Quebec, an English company, called the 
Virginia Company, was formed for the purpose of coloniz¬ 
ing the middle Atlantic coast. Their victory over the Great 
Armada made Englishmen more inclined than ever to disre¬ 
gard Spain’s claims to the New World. So they planned 
to take possession of part of it, hoping to find gold mines 
and expecting great profits from a trade with settlers and 
Indians. 

The Virginia Company obtained from King James I. 
a charter giving it permission to establish colonies in 
America. The country to be settled was so extensive 
and so many men shared the enterprise, that the Virginia 
Company was divided into two parts. One part was called 


42 


SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1606 


the Plymouth branch because it was composed largely of 
men from Plymouth; to this was granted the right to settle 
the land from latitude 41 0 to 45 0 , — that is, from Long Island 
to Nova Scotia. The other part was called the London 
branch because it was composed largely of men from that 
city; to the London Company was granted the land from 
34 0 to 38°, — that is, from Cape Fear to the mouth of the 
Potomac River. The strip of land 
between the two grants was open to 
both companies and was to belong 
to the one which first settled colonies 
there. 

Both companies sent out colonies 
soon after the charter was obtained. 

Popham Colony [ 1607 ]. — The 
Plymouth Company sent to North 
Virginia a colony, called from one 
of its leaders ‘the Popham Colony.' 
The settlers, landing in summer on the Kennebec River, 
were pleased with the country and climate as they then 
appeared. But disappointment and despair followed. 
During the long severe winter, the Englishmen suffered 
terribly from cold, famine, and sickness. They returned 
home with such dismal tales of the “ cold, barren, moun¬ 
tainous, rocky desert,” that it was years before another 
attempt was made to settle there. 

Summary [1579-1609]. — Toward the end of the sixteenth century, 
the English tried to establish colonies on the middle coast of America, 
which they called Virginia. The leader in this effort was Sir Walter 
Ralegh. After several unsuccessful attempts, he resigned the undertak¬ 
ing to a company. This Virginia Company organized two branches, 
the Plymouth and London. Meanwhile, the French were carrying on 
a fur trade with the Indians in Canada. They established trading posts 
and a colony at Quebec. The leader of the French colonists was 
Champlain. 










ENGLISH COLONIES 


43 


1606] 


2. The Jamestown Colon? 

Colony sent by London Company [ 1606 ].— The attempt 
of the London Company to make a settlement was more 
successful than that of the Plymouth Company. A band of 
colonists was sent out in three small ships,— The Good 
Speedy the Sarah Co 7 istanty and the Discovery. These 
colonists meant to land on, or near, Roanoke Island, but 
they were driven northward by storms. They entered 
Chesapeake Bay and sailed up a river which they called 
James in honor of their king. Weary of the long months 
on shipboard, they viewed with delight the broad stream 
with its banks gay with blossoming dogwood and redbud, 
and fair with meadows and forests. “ The low shores 
were covered with flowers of divers colors; the goodly 
trees were in full foliage and all nature seemed kind.” 

Landing at Jamestown [May 13 , 1607 ].—The colonists 
decided to settle about fifty miles from the mouth of the 
river. This situation was safer than one on the coast which 
was apt to be visited by foes, French and Spanish. On 
May 13, 1607, the little band landed and laid the founda¬ 
tion of a town called Jamestown. This little English 
settlement was the beginning of our great nation. 

Colonists.—There were a hundred and five men to 
make a colony ‘and not one woman to make a home/ 
Half the number were registered as ‘gentlemen,’ — men 
of good birth “ that never did know what a day’s work 
was.” They came to enjoy a life of adventure, seeking 
gold and a water-way to the west, and they were ill fitted 
for the rough labor of planting a colony. The other col¬ 
onists were men of more useful sort, — tradesmen and 
mechanics. All were ignorant of the soil, climate, and 
conditions of the new land. These things they had to 
learn by slow and painful degrees. 


44 


SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1607 


Government. — The colony was governed by a council, 
one member of which was elected president. The settlers 
were to have the same rights and be ruled by the same 
laws as their fellow-citizens at home in England. For five 
years, however, they were to use the ‘ common-stock ’ sys¬ 
tem,— that is, land and supplies were to be held in com¬ 
mon, instead of being owned by individuals. This seems 
a bad plan since it made the idle and the industrious share 
alike, but at first all had to depend for food and clothes on 
the supplies brought from England. 

First church. — One of the first things provided was a 
church. Captain Smith, one of the colonists, described it 
thus: “We did hang an awning (which is an old sail) to 
three or four trees, to shadow us from the sun, our walls 
were rails of wood, our seats unhewed trees till we cut 
planks, our pulpit a bar of wood nailed to two neighboring 
trees. . . . This was our church till we built a homely 
thing like a barn.” 

First year at Jamestown. — Soon after the English landed, 
they were attacked by Indians, “ creeping from the hills 
like bears, with bows in their mouths.” They were driven 
off, but for years the colony had to be on guard against 
them. There was, too, the fear of the Spanish, who claimed 
the whole coast. Any day they might come to destroy the 
English colony in Virginia as they had destroyed the 
French one in Florida. The Spaniards wished, indeed, to 
“ drive these villains out and hang them ” ; but, remember¬ 
ing the fate of their Great Armada, they feared to renew 
the war with England and did not go beyond threats. 

The little colony had more serious troubles than Indian 
attacks and fears of Spaniards. The settlement had been 
made in a marshy, mosquito-infested, unhealthful place, 
and there was much sickness. The colonists suffered, too, 
from lack of food. At one time, they had only “ half a 


ENGLISH COLONIES 


45 


1607] 


pint of wheat and as much barley boiled with water for a 
man a day, and this . . . contained as many worms as 
grains.” The first summer, famine and disease destroyed 
half the colony. There were not enough well men to care 
for the sick and to bury the dead. Bodies were “ trailed 
out of their cabins like dogs to be buried.” 

Captain John Smith.—The ability and energy of one 
man probably saved the colony from ruin. This was 
Captain John Smith, one of the councilmen appointed to 
govern the colony. _________ 


about 
years old 


He was 
thirty 
and had led a 
roaming, eventful 
life. As a lad, he 
fought with the 
Dutch against the 
Spaniards; then he 
wandered east to 
fight the Turks and 
to travel in many 
countries. He 
came home to 
England, with 
wonderful tales of 
his adventures by 
land and sea, just 
in time to join the 
expedition to Vir¬ 
ginia. He was 



Captain John Smith 


vain and boastful, but able and energetic, “ brass without, 
but gold within.” He led the colonists in planting crops, 
felling trees, and building huts. He made friends with 
the Indians and persuaded them to trade corn and game 











46 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1607 


for beads, bells, knives, and cloth. He explored many of 
the streams flowing into Chesapeake Bay and made maps 
of the coast. 

Pocahontas. — In an expedition up the James River, 
Captain Smith was made prisoner by the Indians. He 
was carried before a great war chief called the Powhatan, 
an old man “ well beaten with many cold and stormy 
winters.” Captain Smith tells us that he was sentenced to 
death and that the war club was raised to kill him. Then 

Pocahontas, the little 
daughter of Powhatan, 
threw her arms around 
the white man and 
begged his life. At her 
request, he was spared; 
later, he was allowed to 
return to his friends at 
Jamestown. Such is 
Captain Smith’s story. 

The Indian maiden 
became the faithful and 
helpful friend of the 
English. More than 
once when food was 
scarce “the dear and 
blessed Pocahontas,” as 
the English called her, 
came with attendants bringing baskets full of corn. She 
came also, “ by stealth in the dark night through the wild 
woods,” to warn the English of an intended attack by her 
countrymen. “ Shee, next under God, was the instrument 
to preserve this Colonie from death, famine, and utter con¬ 
fusion,” says an old historian. 

Second year at Jamestown. —The second year found the 









ENGLISH COLONIES 


47 


1608] 

Jamestown colony in a sad condition. There was still 
much suffering from sickness and want of supplies. New 
colonists had come over, among whom were some work¬ 
men and many ‘ gentlemen’. Captain Smith wrote home to 
the Company: “When you send again, I entreat you 
rather send thirty carpenters, husbandmen, gardeners, 
fishermen, blacksmiths, and diggers-up of roots, well pro¬ 
vided, rather than a thousand of such as we have.” 

By the vessel which carried this letter, Captain Smith 
sent a manuscript, the True Relation of Virginia . It was 
a description of the country, which he had written in the 
intervals of tree cutting, house building, trading, and ex¬ 
ploring. This was the first English book written in the 
United States. 

In the autumn, Captain Smith was made president of 
the colony. Under his wise, vigorous government affairs 
improved. He made idlers work, saying, “You must 
obey this now for a law : He that will not work shall not 
eat.” The ‘gentlemen’ labored heartily, though the axes 
“blistered their tender fingers.” Strict order was kept. 
At night, a can of cold water was poured down the sleeve 
of each man for every oath that he had uttered. 

American colonies in 1608 . — The winter of 1608 found 
the English one of three European nations occupying the 
northern part of America. Far to the north at Quebec in 
Canada or New France were the French; at St. Augustine in 
Florida and at Santa Fe in New Mexico were the Spanish; 
between the French and the Spanish was the little Eng¬ 
lish colony at Jamestown in Virginia. No one could say 
which nation would finally control the great continent; the 
chances seemed in favor of Spain. 

Smith’s return to England. — The next year, several 
hundred colonists came to Virginia, and Captain Smith 
returned to England. For two years and a half, the 


48 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1609 


“ dear noble captain and loyal hearte,” as his men called 
him, had played his part bravely and wisely at Jamestown. 
He never came back to that colony, but a few years later 
he explored the northern coast to which he gave the name 
New England. He described its wealth in fur, fish, and 
lumber, and made a map of the coast. After this, he 
remained quietly in England, writing books about his 
adventures and the countries he had visited. 

Hudson’s first two voyages.— Not long before Captain 
Smith left Jamestown, he wrote a letter about America to 
Henry Hudson, a fellow-Englishman. In this letter, he 
expressed his belief that north of the James River there 
was a waterway leading to the western ocean; in proof of 
this, he sent a map which he had made of the region. 
This letter was of great interest to Hudson. In the year 
that Captain Smith went to Jamestown, Hudson had ex¬ 
plored the coast of Europe in search of a northeast passage 
to Asia. On this and on a second voyage, both undertaken 
for English merchants, Hudson was turned back by bar¬ 
riers of ice. 

Hudson’s third voyage [ 1609 ]. — He was asked to make a 
third voyage for the Dutch East India Company. Holland 
sent out more trading vessels than all the other countries 
of Europe, and most of these vessels were under the 
control of the great East India Company. They brought 
tea, coffee, spices, silks, and other merchandise from Asia 
and the East Indies. On their long, roundabout voyage 
south of Africa, they passed and repassed their enemy, 
Spain, and their trade rival, Portugal, in constant danger of 
attack from both. So the Dutch merchants sent Hudson 
‘ to find an easier route to the Spice Islands.’ 

Hudson was again baffled by the ice barriers off the 
northern coast of Europe. Instead of returning home, he 
determined to go in search of the western passage men- 


i6og] 


ENGLISH COLONIES 


49 


tioned by Captain Smith. With one little ship, the Half 
Moon, manned by about twenty Dutch and English sailors, 
he struck out boldly across the Atlantic. He sailed along 
the northern coast of America, examining bays and rivers. 
He discovered the Delaware River and explored a beautiful 
river, now called Hudson in his honor. The country 



The Half Moon on the Hudson River 


seemed to him “ as fair a land as was ever trodden by the 
foot of man” and the natives a “sensible and warlike 
people.” These were Iroquois Indians whose friendship 
Hudson won by giving them biscuit and rum; in return 


E 






50 


SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1609 


they brought him tobacco, wampum, venison, and furs. 
Only a few weeks before, Champlain had made the Iroquois 
his enemies by joining an Algonquin war party against 
them. 

New Netherland.—The Dutch claimed the country which 
Hudson had explored, and called it New Netherland. 
They established trading posts and bought furs from the 
Indians, giving in exchange beads, knives, hatchets, and 



The Dutch Colony of New Amsterdam 


gay-colored cloth. The first Dutch settlement was a fort 
and trading post on Manhattan Island [1613]. Around 
this, there gradually grew up a “little group of huts.” 
This village became a town, called New Amsterdam ; now, 
it is the great city of New York. 

Hudson’s fourth voyage. — The spring after his Dutch 
voyage, Hudson was sent out again by English merchants, 
this time in search of a northwest passage to Asia. He 
explored the northern coast of America and entered the 
bay and strait which bear his name. That autumn, his 
ship was shut in by ice and the crew suffered severely 
from cold, famine, and sickness. The next summer, he 

















l6og] 


ENGLISH COLONIES 


51 


wished to continue his explorations, but his men were re¬ 
solved to return home. They mutinied and put Hudson, 
his little son, and some sick men in a small boat. The 
boat drifted off on the summer sea and was never heard 
of again. An old Dutch legend says that the castaways 
came safe to shore and made their home in the fair land 
which Hudson had discovered. 

Meanwhile, how were affairs at Jamestown ? 

Starving Time in Virginia [1609-1610].—When Cap¬ 
tain Smith left the colony, it seemed securely established. 
It contained over fifty houses and about five hundred 
people. But affairs were badly managed and the colony 
was soon in sore straits. By unwise dealings, the Indians 
were made unfriendly, and they refused to sell corn to the 
white men. The colonists were reduced, says one of their 
number, to feed on “ roots, herbs, acorns, walnuts, berries; 
now and then, a little fish . . . yea, even the very skins 
of our horses.” They ate more loathsome food, — rats, 
snakes, and even dead bodies. With famine came sick¬ 
ness. At times, there were not more than five or six men 
able to work. During the terrible months called the 
Starving Time, the colonists were reduced from five 
hundred to sixty. 

Delaware saves the colony. — The survivors resolved to 
leave Jamestown and go to the Newfoundland fisheries, 
whence they could get passage home. They embarked, 
but on their way down the James River they met ships 
bringing supplies and colonists. The commander, Lord De 
la Warre, or Delaware as the name came to be written, 
persuaded the colonists to return to the abandoned settle¬ 
ment. When he landed at Jamestown, he fell upon his 
knees and thanked God that he had come in time to save 
the colony planted for the “ welfare of the kingdom of 
God and the kingdom of England.’* 


52 


SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1612 


Governors Gates and Dais. — Lord Delaware remained 
in Virginia two years and then left the colony to be gov¬ 
erned by Sir Thomas Gates and Sir Thomas Dale. They 
were severe but able and energetic rulers. Idlers were 
flogged, and death was the penalty for robbing a garden 
of flowers or vegetables or for killing a fowl or domestic 
animal. The common-stock system was put aside. Each 
man had land assigned him and owned 
all his crop, except two and a half bar¬ 
rels of corn which he was required to 
contribute to the common granary. 

Tobacco-growing in Virginia. — Dur¬ 
ing these first five struggling years, 
the Virginia colonists experimented 
with many things, trying to raise rice, 
olives, silk, and other Old World crops. 
At last, a profitable native crop was 
found. This was tobacco. Tobacco 
had been introduced into England 
from Ralegh’s colony on Roanoke 
Island, and its use had spread rapidly 
throughout Europe. The weed was 
supposed to have a medicinal value, 
and its use became a fashionable habit. 

At first, tobacco was obtained only 
from the Spanish settlements. John 
Rolfe, one of the Jamestown settlers, 
observed that the plant was raised by 
the Virginia Indians, and he thought 
that it might be cultivated as a market 
crop by the colonists. The experi¬ 
ment was made. The tobacco grew well, was of good 
quality, and commanded a high price. 

Prosperity of colony. — In spite of the Company’s efforts 



Tobacco Plant 


ENGLISH COLONIES 


S3 


l6l2] 

to keep them secret, tidings of the colonists’ hardships had 
reached England. Tales of famine, of fevers, of Indian 
attacks, of the terrible Starving Time, of the stern rule of 
Gates and Dale, were told and lost nothing in the telling. 
It was difficult to get settlers to go to the colony. Some¬ 
times men sentenced to be hanged for theft or other petty 
offenses, according to the severe English law of the day, 
refused pardon when it was offered on condition that they 
go as servants to Virginia. 

But now there was a change. Tidings crossed the seas 
of the profits in raising tobacco and of the growing pros¬ 
perity of the colony. Hoping to make their fortunes, 
people came to Virginia and took up plantations. At first, 
only men came. They found the country pleasant and 
the tobacco crop profitable; they began to regard Virginia 
as home and brought over their families. To provide 
wives for unmarried men, the Company sent out a ship¬ 
load of young women of humble birth but good character. 
These became the wives of colonists who paid their pas¬ 
sage— not with money, but with tobacco. Coin was sc&rce 
and tobacco was the currency of the colony; with it men 
paid debts and salaries, and bought food, clothes, and tools. 

Great Charter [1619]. —Up to this time, Virginiahad been 
a trading colony, governed by rules made by the Virginia 
Company. Now the Company granted it a new charter, 
called the Great Charter. This said that, in addition to 
the governor and council appointed by the Company, 
Virginia was to have an assembly of its own to make its 
laws. This assembly was to be composed of members 
chosen to represent the different settlements, or ‘boroughs,’ 
as they were called. 

First General Assembly. — On Friday, July 30, 1619, 
there met in the church at Jamestown the first elected 
law-making body in America. That little assembly was 


54 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1619 

the parent of our great national Congress. Each of the 
eleven Virginia boroughs sent two burgesses, as represent¬ 
atives to the assembly, — hence it was called the House 
of Burgesses. 

Introduction of slavery. —The year that the first House 
of Burgesses met, Jamestown was the scene of another 
event that was of widespread importance, but this one was 
the beginning of evil and trouble. “The last of August,” 
says Rolfe, “ there came in a Dutch manne of war that sold 
us twenty negars.” These negro slaves were savages from 
the west coast of Africa, where the people worshiped devils, 
fought like wild beasts, and ate or enslaved their captives. 
These savages were very imitative and were easily taught 
some civilized habits, and trained to work in the fields. 
They proved useful servants. Dutch and English vessels 
brought shipload after shipload of them to Virginia and to 
other English colonies as others were settled. 

Life in the colony. — For the time, Virginia prospered 
and many people came to make homes there. P'ifteen 
years after the colony was established, it had over twelve 
hundred settlers. There were few villages; Jamestown 
was the only town in the colony. Most of the people 
were engaged in the cultivation of tobacco and lived 
on farms and plantations along the streams which served 
for highways. Each plantation had its own * landing,’ 
or wharf, to which ships came to bring goods and to get 
cargoes of tobacco. The colonists obtained from Eng¬ 
land most of their clothing, household goods, tools, and 
other supplies. They were too busy raising tobacco to 
take time to make such things for themselves. 

Massacre of 1622. — P'or years, the colonists were on 
friendly terms with the natives. They traded together, and 
the red men went freely in and out the white men’s houses 
and towns. But at heart the Indians were hostile. They re- 


1622] 


ENGLISH COLONIES 


55 


sented being treated as inferiors by the English ; they re¬ 
sented the clearing of the forests where they were accustomed 
to hunt, the occupying of the meadows where they were ac¬ 
customed to camp and fish. They feared that the English, 
who were increasing in numbers and power, would become 
masters of the country. Opecancanough, who had suc¬ 
ceeded the earlier Powhatan as chief, resolved to destroy 
them. Several Indian tribes united in planning a general 
massacre. 

After four years of preparation, the blow fell and fell as 
from one hand. On the same day and at the same hour, 
an attack was made on all the Virginia settlements; at 
sunset, three hundred and fifty white men, women, and 
children lay dead. 

After this, there was distrust, hate, and war between the 
two races. Year by year, the English drove the savages 
farther back, up the streams, into the forests, across the 
mountains. At every opportunity, the Indians attacked 
the English and destroyed unprotected families and border 
settlements. 

Company’s charter withdrawn [1624]. — At the end of 

fifteen years, the English colony was firmly planted, but 
it was rooted in graves ; famine, disease, and massacre 
had destroyed four-fifths of its settlers. The ill fortune 
of the colony gave King James an excuse to interfere in 
its affairs. He accused the Virginia Company of mis¬ 
managing matters, and its charter was withdrawn. King 
James took control of the colony, promising that it should 
enjoy all its former rights. 

The chief change was that the governor and council 
were appointed by the king instead of by the Company. 
The colony continued to elect its assembly to make its 
own laws. This assembly claimed the power of taxation, 
declaring,' “ The governor shall not lay any taxes .. . .. 


56 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1624 

otherwise than by the authority of the General As¬ 
sembly.” 

What the Jamestown colony accomplished. — Our nation 
rests to-day on the foundation laid three hundred years 
ago by the handful of capable, liberty-loving Englishmen 
who settled Jamestown. For thirteen years, Jamestown 



The Church at Jamestown, showing in the Foreground the Tower built in 
1642-1645 


was the only English colony in America. Its people 
“brake the ice and beat the paths” in the wilderness. 
They underwent many hardships while they were learning 
to adapt themselves to conditions in the New World, but 
they built their colony on firm foundations; it had a profit¬ 
able industry and a free government. Farms, plantations, 
villages, iron works, churches, and a law-making assembly 
were established and a university was planned. 

Summary [1607-1624]. — The first permanent English settlement 
in America was made, in 1607, at Jamestown in Virginia. The 
colony suffered much from famine, sickness, and mismanagement. 





1620] 


ENGLISH COLONIES 


57 


Tobacco became the main crop and proved so profitable that the 
colony built up steadily. The chief events in the early history of 
Virginia took place in 1619; these were the introduction of slavery 
and the establishment of a general assembly, a law-making body 
elected by the people. Two years after Jamestown was founded, 
Henry Hudson in a Dutch ship explored the coast between the Delaware 
and Hudson rivers. The Dutch called this country New Netherland, 
and established posts there to carry on a fur trade with the Indians. 


3. New England Colonies 

Religious conditions of seventeenth century. — About 
the time that Jamestown was founded, the people who 
were to make the second English settlement in America 
went from England to Holland. These were the members 
of a church, or congregation, who moved about so much 
that they came to be called Pilgrims, — that is, people who 
travel, usually from religious motives. 

Religious conditions in the sixteenth and seventeenth 
centuries were very different from those of our time. We 
have religious freedom,—that is, a man may believe and 
teach what he pleases, go to church or stay at home as he 
chooses, and pay or not pay to support a minister. Three 
hundred years ago, religious freedom was almost unknown. 
Nearly every country had its established church, or form 
of religion, and all people were required to attend and sup¬ 
port this church. It was thought that to let people believe 
and worship as they pleased would destroy all law and 
order. 

In England, there was a national church called the Church 
of England. People were required to submit to its govern¬ 
ment, just as they were required to submit to the government 
of the state. Some men were dissatisfied with the Church 
of England. They wished to free it — or purify it, as 
they said — of certain forms and doctrines. These men 


58 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1620 

were called Puritans. Others went farther. They so dis¬ 
liked the forms and doctrines of the established church that 
they were unwilling to remain members of it, and they 
formed religious congregations of their own ; because they 
separated themselves from the 
Church of England, they were 
called Separatists. These Sepa¬ 
ratists were fined and imprisoned 
for refusing to attend and support 
the established church. 

Pilgrims. — To escape this 
harsh treatment, a little band of 
Separatists, called Pilgrims, went 
to Holland where people were 
allowed more religious freedom 
than in any other country of Eu¬ 
rope. Most of these Pilgrims 
were tradesmen and mechanics; 
they were sober, earnest, hard-working people and got on 
well with the thrifty, industrious Dutch. Other English 
Separatists joined them until their band had several hun¬ 
dred members. But they were not contented in Holland. 
Though they were kindly treated, they were strangers in a 
strange land. They loved their English speech and cus¬ 
toms, and wanted their children to grow up English and 
not Dutch. 

Good reports were now coming from the English colony 
at Jamestown. So the Pilgrims decided that they would 
go to the New World and make a settlement where they 
could establish their own church. They obtained from the 
Virginia Company a grant of land on the coast of New 
Jersey. They were so poor that they had to borrow money 
for the expenses of their expedition. As they could not 
afford to carry all their congregation, a part remained ia 
Holland. 



The Puritan 




ENGLISH COLONIES 


59 


l62o] 


Voyage of Mayflower [1620]. — One hundred and two 
men, women, and children set sail for America in a single 
small vessel, the Mayjloivcr. One of the band was Cap¬ 
tain Myles Standish, who was not a member of the congre¬ 
gation but who liked the Pilgrims so Well that he went 
with them. He 
became their mil¬ 
itary leader and 
served them as 
bravely and faith¬ 
fully as Captain 
John Smith had 
served James¬ 
town. After a 
long, stormy voy¬ 
age, the Pilgrims 
approached land 

far north of that Th z Mayflower 

for which they 

had a grant; they wished to turn southward, but the 
weather was bad and the surly captain was unwilling to 
make a longer voyage. The Pilgrims, therefore, decided 
to establish their colony on the coast of Massachusetts. 
Their grant did not apply to this territory. So, before 
landing, they drew up an agreement to make and obey 
such laws as they needed. 

First year at Plymouth. — On December 21, 1620, the 
men landed at Plymouth on a bleak, ice-bound coast. One 
of their number says: “They fell upon their knees and 
blessed the God of heaven, Who had brought them over 
the vast and furious ocean. . . . For the season it was 
winter and . . . what could they see but a hideous and 
desolate wilderness, full of wild beasts and wild men ? ” 
The first work was to build a large log house, called the 



6o SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [i6ai 


Common House ; as soon as this was finished, the women 
and children came ashore. 

During the first winter, the Pilgrims suffered terribly 
from cold, famine, and illness. Over half the little band 
died. At one time, only seven men were well enough to 
work. These men, rough soldiers like Standish, nursed the 
sick, cut firewood, cooked, washed, and did all the other 
work, “and all this willingly and cheerfully.” 

Fortunately, Indian attacks were not added to other hard¬ 
ships. Massasoit, the chief of a neighboring tribe, made 
with the white men a “ treaty of friendship ” that was kept 
as long as he lived. Friendly natives taught the colonists 
how to catch fish and to raise Indian corn. 

The Mayflower returned to England in the spring. In 
spite of the hardships of the winter, not one of the Pilgrims 
went back. They were busy building cabins, planting gar¬ 
dens and fields, fishing and hunting to obtain food, — estab¬ 
lishing homes in the wilderness. In the autumn, they 
celebrated their harvest and the end of the year in America 
by a feast — the first Thanksgiving. Year after year, this 
festival was observed, and it came at last to be a national 
holiday. 

Plymouth settlement. — At first the Plymouth settlers, 
like those at Jamestown, owned land, goods, and live-stock 
together. In both colonies, this common-stock plan was a 
failure. After a few years, the Pilgrims abandoned it and 
divided land and property, so that each man might have 
the reward of his own labors. After this, the colony was 
more prosperous. The people found out what sort of crops 
to raise and how to raise them on the poor, stony soil; they 
established fisheries along the coasts and trading posts 
among the Indians. Ships that brought supplies and col¬ 
onists from England were sent back laden with lumber, 
salt fish, and furs. 


1627] 


ENGLISH COLONIES 


61 


A Dutch visitor described the Plymouth colony when it 
was seven years old. He said that the houses of good 
hewn plank stood in little gardens along the streets. At 
the top of a hill, there was a square, strong building in 
which the Pilgrims held their church meetings and their 
town meetings about the business and government of the 
colony; on the top of the house, there were six cannon so 
placed as to command the country and the harbor. When 



Pilgrims going to Church 


the Pilgrims went to church or town meeting, they carried 
with them their matchlock or flintlock guns. These were 
very unlike the firearms in use to-day. The powder in the 
matchlock had to be lighted from a burning fuse; the 
flintlocks had flints which struck fire by hitting against a 
piece of steel and so set fire to the powder. 

Other settlements. — In ten years, the Plymouth colony 
had about three hundred people. Meanwhile, Englishmen 
settled at other places on the northern coast. There were 
little bands of timber cutters, fur traders, and fishermen on 
the Kennebec River in Maine, at Dover in New Hampshire, 
and at Brattleboro in Vermont. 





62 


SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1622 


Two Englishmen, Sir Ferdinando Gorges and Captain 
John Mason, obtained a grant to the land between the 
Kennebec and Merrimac rivers. They divided it. Gorges 
took the eastern part, which he called Maine, and Mason 
the western part, which he named New Hampshire. Settle¬ 
ments were established, but they grew slowly. 

Massachusetts Bay Company. — Meanwhile, affairs in 
England were in bad shape. The Puritans got on badly 
with vain, self-willed King James I. and worse with his son, 
King Charles I., who ruled with little regard for his subjects’ 
rights. Many Puritans became discouraged with the state 
of affairs at home and decided that there was “no place 
left to fly unto but the wilderness.” There was a great emi¬ 
gration to New England. In ten years, 20,000 colonists 
came over, most of whom settled in Massachusetts. 

The Massachusetts Bay Company, formed by Puritan 
merchants and country gentlemen, bought a large tract of 
land around the Charles and Merrimac rivers. This tract 
was to extend westward to the Pacific Ocean, which was 
supposed to be not far from the Hudson River. King 
Charles gave the Bay Company a liberal charter [1629], 
saying that it was to be managed by a governor and a 
council elected by its members ; these were to make any 
laws they pleased which did not conflict with the laws of 
England. The king was not sorry to have the Puritans 
go to America. They annoyed him at home, and they 
would be useful in America, keeping the French and Dutch 
^way from the territory claimed by England. 

The Bay Company promptly sent out settlers who founded 
Salem, Boston, and other towns. Most of the settlers 
came over in the summer; they found the coast very un¬ 
like the bleak, ice-bound shore on which the Pilgrims had 
landed. One of the Bay colonists wrote in his journal, 
f< What with fine woods and green trees by land, and these 


1 


1630] 


ENGLISH COLONIES 


63 



yellow flowers painting the sea, made us all desirous to see 
our new paradise of New England.” 

The second summer, there came ships, bringing a thou¬ 
sand colonists. One of these ships brought the governor, 
Mr. John Winthrop, a ‘narrow¬ 
minded but ever large-hearted ’ 
gentleman. It brought also 
the charter of the Massachu¬ 
setts Bay colony. Nothing 
was said in the charter about 
the place of the Company’s 
headquarters. The king took 
it for granted that it would be 
in England. But the Puritans 
knew that at home they would 
be exposed to the king’s inter¬ 
ference. If they displeased 

, . -r-r• ru / , , , John Winthrop 

him, King Charles would not 

hesitate to withdraw their charter, as King James had 
withdrawn the London Company’s charter six years be¬ 
fore. Therefore, the officers of the Company went to 
America and took their charter with them. 



Snowshoes 


Early days in Bay colony. —The Bay colonists, like 
those of Jamestown and Plymouth, suffered many hard- 





















64 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1630 



Moccasins 


ships at first. Want and the severe climate caused much 
sickness. Some of the colonists became discouraged and 

returned to England, but 
there remained a band of 
sober, steadfast men. 
“ God sifted a whole na¬ 
tion that He might send 
choice grain out into this 
wilderness,” said one of their 
preachers. 

Until they could raise crops for them¬ 
selves, the colonists had to depend on 
supplies from England and on such scanty 
stores as they could obtain from the 
Indians. Sometimes they were “ forced 
to lengthen out their own food with acorns.” At one 
time, just as Governor Winthrop was dividing his last 
handful of meal with a needy neighbor, a ship laden with 
food entered the 
harbor. 

Soon matters 
improved. The 
cod fisheries off 
the coast fur¬ 
nished food and 
a valuable ex¬ 
port. Gardens 
were planted, 
fruit trees set 
out, fields 
cleared and cul¬ 
tivated, and 
crops of wheat, rye, and Indian corn were raised. The 
native grain became the chief dependence, because it 


A Garrison House at York, Maine, built in 1676 









1630] 


ENGLISH COLONIES 


6 5 


would grow on rough, half-cleared land where wheat did 
not flourish. The colonists followed the Indian custom of 
planting beans and pumpkins in their cornfields. They 
learned to fish and to hunt in the Indian fashion, and to 
use canoes, moccasins, and snowshoes, like the natives. 
They had no domestic animals except the horses, cattle, 
and hogs brought from England. These were scarce and 
valuable. In the early histories, the death of a cow or a 
goat is recorded as duly as the death of a person. 

Life in New England. — Each New England town had a 
blockhouse, a strong log house, of which the second story 
usually projected over the lower one. This served as a 
fort and a place of refuge from Indian attack. One of the 
first buildings erected in each settlement was a meeting 
house, used for religious and business assemblies. The 



minister was the leading man of the settlement, and only 
members of the Puritan churches were allowed to hold 
office or even to vote. Men who spoke against the church 
or state government were fined, whipped, or banished. 









































66 


SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1635 


The Puritans had come to America, not to establish a place 
of religious freedom, but to found a colony governed ac¬ 
cording to their own views. 

Opinions about government. — They did not always agree 
among themselves about matters of government. A party 
led by Governor Winthrop and Rev. John Cotton thought 
that most men were so unfit to govern that they ought not 
to be allowed to vote, and that all power ought to be in the 
hands of a few. “ The best part is always the least,” Gov¬ 
ernor Winthrop said, “ and of that best part the wiser part 
is always the lesser.” Rev. Thomas Hooker and other 
liberal men thought that all people should have a voice in 
•the government. Mr. Hooker asserted that “the founda¬ 
tion of authority is laid in the free consent of the people.” 

Religious customs. — The Puritan colony had many strict 
religious customs. No meals were cooked on Sunday, and 
the people all went to the meeting house — which was 
unwarmed in the coldest weather—to listen to long hymns, 
long prayers, and long sermons. It was thought sinful to 
gather flowers on Sunday or to walk in the fields for rec¬ 
reation. People who traveled on that day were arrested and 
fined. Boys bringing home the cows were told to ‘ let the 
bars down softly as it was the Lord’s day.’ Under its stern 
rule, the Bay colony became “a model place of steady work 
and clean living. Nowhere else in the world would you 
hear so few oaths uttered, or see so few idle or drunk or 
begging.” 

Schools. — A school was established in Boston a few 
years after it was founded [1635], anc ^ soon each settle¬ 
ment had a school. These were for boys only; girls 
might learn at home to read and write, but they were 
expected to spend most of their time in housework. The 
first college in the colonies was Harvard [1636], named 
after Rev. John Harvard who left it his books and half his 


ENGLISH COLONIES 


1636] 


67 


estate to educate the “ youth of this country in knowledge 
and godliness/’ 



Harvard College 


Trouble about charter. — King Charles was willing to 
have the Puritans settle in America, but he did not wish a 
strong Puritan state to be built up there. His law courts 
decided that the Massachusetts Bay Company’s charter 
should be withdrawn and that the colony should be made a 
royal province, like Virginia. The magistrates at the Bay 
were so unwilling to give up their charter that they re¬ 
solved to resist by force of arms. Fortunately for them, 
other affairs and disputes at home kept the king from 
sending troops against his unruly subjects in America. 
For some years, the colony went on undisturbed, governing 
itself according to its charter. 

Settlement of Connecticut [1636]. — In course of time, the 
Puritans made settlements in other parts of New England. 
So many of these were made by people from Massachu¬ 
setts that this colony is called ‘the mother of New 











68 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1636 


England.’ One of the first bands of settlers from Massa¬ 
chusetts was led by Rev. Thomas Hooker. These settlers 
drove their cattle and carried their children and household 
goods to the fertile Connecticut Valley. It took ten days 
to make the ninety-mile journey through the pathless, tan¬ 
gled forest, steering their course by a compass. They 
settled at Hartford near a Dutch fort. There they had 
good meadow lands and a chance to carry out their views 
about government, which were disapproved by the ruling 
party at the Bay. They adopted a written constitution 

[1639], which allowed freemen 
to vote who were not church 
members. 

About the time that Hartford 
was founded, several bands of 
colonists came from England to 
Connecticut. One of these was 
a Puritan congregation which 
made a settlement at New 
Haven. This was ruled by laws 
even stricter than those of 
Massachusetts. Only church 
members were allowed to vote 
and to hold office. No law was 
recognized but the Bible ; trial 
by jury was not used because it 
was not a part of the law of 
Moses. 

Roger Williams. — The year 
that Mr. Hooker went to Hart¬ 
ford, the Bay colony was rid of 
another dissenter, — that is, one 
who disagreed with the ruling party. This was Roger 
Williams, a Salem preacher. He said that the land be- 



Roger Williams 




ENGLISH COLONIES 


6g 


I636) 

longed to the Indians, and that neither the king of Eng¬ 
land nor any one else had a right to grant it away from 
them ; the settlers ought to buy it from the natives. He 
said, too, that every man ought to be allowed to vote, and 
that sensible, upright men ought to be chosen for magis¬ 
trates without regard to their church membership. He 
asserted that it is wrong to compel people to attend a 
certain church or to tax them for its support. The laws 
of the country, he urged, should prevent and punish crime, 
not direct religious matters; for their religious views, men 
should answer only to God and their own consciences. 

These views seem reasonable to us to-day, but they 
seemed foolish and wicked to most people then. To keep 
Williams from spreading these opinions in the colony, the 
Massachusetts magistrates resolved to send him back to 
England. Not wishing to return to the motherland, he 
fled from Salem in the depth of winter and hid with Indians 
in the forest. 

Settlement of Rhode Island [1636]. — Afterward, he went 
with a few companions to the country of the Narragansett 
Indians, south of the Bay colony. The Narragansett chief 
gave him a tract of land. Here Williams established the 
first settlement in Rhode Island; he called it Providence, 
saying, “ I desired it might be a shelter for persons dis¬ 
tressed in conscience.” It was to be free to “ Baptists, 
Protestants, Jews, or Turks, to all men of all nations and 
countries.” 

Quakers. — Rhode Island was the only colony in which 
the people, called Quakers, or Friends, were not persecuted. 
The Quakers were a religious sect that thought people 
should lead pure, simple lives. They wore bonnets or 
broad-brimmed hats and sober-colored clothes, used ‘ thee,’ 
‘ thou,’ and ‘ thine,’ instead of ‘ you ’ and ‘ yours,’ in speak¬ 
ing to one person, and refused to take off their hats as a 


SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1637 


token of respect. The Quakers said the Bible ought to be 
the only rule of government for people and churches. 
They thought that it was wrong to take oaths in law courts, to 
serve in the army, or to pay taxes to support the established 
church. For refusing to do these things, they were 
severely punished, — whipped, fined, imprisoned, branded 
with hot irons, even put to death. 

Pequot War [1637]. — Not long after Roger Williams 
settled Rhode Island, he rendered a great service to the 
colony which had driven him out. At the request of the 



Pequot Fort 


Bay magistrates, he went to the council fire of the powerful 
Narragansetts and persuaded them not to join a war league 
against the English. This league was planned by the 












1637] 


ENGLISH COLONIES 


7i 


Pequots, a warlike tribe of Connecticut, who urged the 
neighboring tribes to go with them on the warpath. The 
Indians, who at first had been friendly, had grown jealous 
of the increasing numbers and power of the New England 
settlers. 

Finally the war whoop took the place of their early ‘ wel¬ 
come ’; they attacked settlement after settlement. At last, 
the colonists made an expedition against the Pequot strong¬ 
hold, a collection of wigwams surrounded by a log stockade, 
or fence. They guarded the two entrances and threw lighted 
torches over the stockade to set fire to the wigwams within. 
The inmates were burned or killed as they tried to make 
their way out. Of over four hundred Indians, only five 
escaped ; most of the remaining members of the tribe were 
shot or captured and made slaves. By this severity, the 
other Indian tribes were overawed. For forty years, there 
was peace in New England. 

Union of four New England colonies [1643]. — Soon after 
the Pequot War, the colonies of Plymouth, Massachusetts 
Bay, Connecticut, and New Haven formed a union, called 
the “ United Colonies of New England,” which lasted forty 
years. Each colony kept charge of its own affairs, but 
acted with the others against the Indians and in other 
matters of common interest. Perhaps this union was 
suggested to the colonies by the Dutch republic, formed of 
free united states, where the Pilgrims had lived so many 
years. 

Rhode Island charter. — The four united colonies were, 
as they said, “ all in church fellowship.” They did not 
ask Rhode Island to join the union. The year that the 
confederacy was formed, Roger Williams went to England 
to secure a charter for his colony. He returned the next 
spring with a charter for “ Rhode Island and Providence 
Plantations.” 


72 


SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1621 


Summary [1620-1644]. — In 1620, the second English settlement in 
America was founded at Plymouth, Massachusetts, by the Pilgrims. 
They suffered many hardships, but by degrees they prospered and built 
up a thriving trade in lumber, salt fish, and furs. Other colonies were 
established along the New England coast. There were a few scattered 
settlements in Maine, Vermont, and New Hampshire. The most pros¬ 
perous New England colony was Massachusetts Bay, founded by English 
Puritans. Settlements were made at several places in Connecticut, — 
the chief ones being at Hartford by settlers from Massachusetts, and at 
New Haven by an English congregation. Roger Williams established 
the first settlement in Rhode Island and made it a place of religious 
freedom. The Pequot Indians made war on the New England settle¬ 
ments, but were defeated. Soon after this war, the colonies of Plymouth, 
Massachusetts Bay, Connecticut, and New Haven formed a union for 
defense and common action. 

4. Settlements on the Middle Coast 

New Netherland. — While the English were building up 
colonies in Virginia and New England, the Dutch were 
taking possession of the region that they called New Nether¬ 
land. Their colony grew steadily though slowly compared 
with their New England neighbors, to whom settlers came by 
shiploads and congregations. A Dutch West India Com¬ 



pany was organized on the same plan as the great East 
India Company. It established trading posts where agents 
were stationed to collect furs and timber. Furs were the 


















1626] 


ENGLISH COLONIES 


73 


money of this settlement, as tobacco was of Virginia, and 
they were used in the payment of debts and salaries. 
Wampum was used for small change. 

There were in the Dutch colony some great landowners 
called ‘patroons.’ A patroon was granted a large tract 
of land on condition that he bring over as settlers fifty 
grown persons within four years. The patroons lived in 
handsome style on their vast estates, served by negro 
slaves and surrounded by tenants. Most of the Dutch set¬ 
tlers were small farmers and thrifty, hard-working trades¬ 
men whose wives were neat housekeepers and good cooks. 

The Dutch built comfortable homes, and had fat cattle, 
well-tended gardens, and yards gay with flowers, especially 
tulips, lilies, and roses. They were fond of sports and 
brought to America their native amusements, — coasting, 
skating, and sleighing, — their habit of making New Year’s 
calls, their celebration of Christmas by the visit of Santa 
Claus, and of Easter with colored eggs. They were reli¬ 
gious, intelligent people and built churches and established 
schools at New Amsterdam and elsewhere. Like other 
people of the times, they had strict laws. There were 
ducking-stools for scolds, and slanderers were punished by 
having a red-hot iron run through the tongue. 

Governor Minuit. — The first governor of New Nether- 
land was Peter Minuit, a wise and capable man. He 
made friends with the Indians and paid them for the land 
occupied by the Dutch. For the island of Manhattan, he 
gave cloth, beads, knives, and hatchets to the value of 
twenty-four dollars. The Indians thought themselves well 
paid for the island which was a small part of their vast 
possessions. 

Dutch and English claims. — In the course of a few 
years, the English settled near the Dutch on the Connecti¬ 
cut River. Both nations claimed the land. The English 


74 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1638 

asserted that the whole coast belonged to them by virtue 
of Cabot’s discovery; the Dutch claimed the territory on 
account of Hudson’s explorations. 

Swedes settle Delaware [1638]. — The Swedes also occu¬ 
pied territory claimed by the Dutch. Led by Peter Minuit, 
some Swedes landed on the west bank of the Delaware 
River and bought from the Indians a tract of land which 
they called New Sweden. There they made a settlement, 
called Fort Christina in honor of their young queen. This 
was the first settlement in what is now Delaware. 

Lord Balti¬ 
more’s colony.— 
Meanwhile, Vir¬ 
ginia also had 
new and unwel¬ 
come neighbors. 
They were of 
the same race as 
her settlers but 
of a different re¬ 
ligion. The laws 
of England at 
that time re¬ 
quired all men 
to conform to 
the established 
church. Many 
Puritans who 
were unwilling 
to conform to 
the Church of England took refuge in New England. 
George Calvert, Baron Baltimore, planned to establish in 
America a colony where Roman Catholics might have 
liberty of belief and worship. 




1632] 


ENGLISH COLONIES 


75 


For this purpose, he obtained from the king a grant of 
land north of the Potomac River. Over this territory, he 
was given almost absolute power. He was to pay to the 
king two Indian arrows every year and one-fifth of the 
gold and silver found in the territory. Lord Baltimore 
died before he could send a colony to his American estate. 
His sons, Cecil, the second Lord Baltimore, and Leonard 
Calvert, carried out his plan. 

Settlement at St. Mary's [1634]. — Leonard Calvert 
brought a band of colonists to the province which was 
called Maryland in honor of the queen of England. A 
tract of land was bought from the Indians for ‘a few 
hatchets and hoes and a little cloth/ and a settlement 
was made called St. Mary’s. The site chosen was a de¬ 
serted Indian settlement where there was good cleared 
land. The first year’s crop provided the settlers corn for 
their own use and a surplus to trade in New England for 
salt codfish. 

Early days in Maryland. — In its early days, Maryland 
was spared many of the troubles which beset the other 
colonies. The people had plenty of food, fairly good 
health, and freedom from Indian attack. The region was 
occupied by the mild Delawares whose good will the set¬ 
tlers won by justice and kindness. They had troubles, 
however, with their Virginia neighbors, who regarded them 
as trespassers. Part of the territory given Lord Baltimore 
belonged to the Virginia grant; on it were settlers from 
that colony who refused to acknowledge Lord Baltimore’s 
authority. The leader of these was Mr. William Clay- 
borne, who had established a trading post on Kent’s Island. 
After leading several revolts and giving the Maryland col¬ 
ony much trouble, he was at last suppressed. 

Life in Maryland resembled that in Virginia. In both 
colonies were few villages and many great plantations. To- 


76 SHORT HISTORY Of AMERICAN REORLE [164a 

bacco was the staple crop and the currency, and the broad 
streams were used as highways. The form of government 
was like that of Virginia; instead of ruling as absolute 
lord, according to the terms of his charter, Lord Baltimore 
gave the colonists the rights of freemen. 

Religious affairs. — The chief difference between the two 
colonies was in the matter of religion. In Maryland, all 
Christian sects enjoyed freedom of belief and worship. 
This was secured by a law, called the Toleration Act [1649], 
which said that “ no person . . . professing to believe in 
Jesus Christ, shall from henceforth be anyways molested 
. . . for his religion nor in the free exercise thereof.” 

In Virginia, the Church of England was established by 
law, and all people were taxed to support it; dissenters, 
such as Quakers, Puritans, and Roman Catholics, were 
driven out. In Massachusetts, only Puritans were allowed ; 
people of other religions were whipped, banished, or even 
put to death. In Rhode Island alone, there was entire 
religious freedom, even Jews and unbelievers being toler¬ 
ated. It was many years before persecution ceased and 
religious freedom prevailed everywhere. 

Summary [1621-1649]. — The Dutch colony of New Netherland 
grew steadily though slowly, and carried on a thriving fur trade with 
the Indians. Some Swedes established south of New Netherland a 
settlement which they called New Sweden. An English Roman 
Catholic nobleman, Lord Baltimore, founded the colony of Maryland. 
In occupations and government, Maryland resembled its neighbor, 
Virginia. 


5. Colonial Growth 

English Commonwealth [1649]. — The English people 
resisted King Charles’s disregard of their rights, especially 
his assuming the right to lay taxes, —a right which be¬ 
longed only to Parliament. At last, the contest between 


ENGLISH COLONIES 


77 


1649] 

king and people came to open war. King Charles’s army 
was defeated, and he was put to death by his own subjects. 
Instead of the kingdom, a Commonwealth was established. 
The head of this Com¬ 
monwealth was Oliver 
Cromwell, the leader of 
the Puritan army. 

What effect did these 
events at home have on 
the English colonies in 
America ? Let us see. 

Colonies under Com¬ 
monwealth.—The Great 
Charter of Virginia, 
which the king had on 
the whole respected, 
gave that colony the 
rights for which English¬ 
men at home were con¬ 
tending. Virginia was 
contented and prosper¬ 
ous, loyal to the king 
and the Church of England. It submitted, however, to 
the Commonwealth fleet sent to require the obedience of 
the colonies; back of this fleet, as the Virginians well 
knew, was the power which had conquered the king. 
English loyalists, who disliked the way affairs were man¬ 
aged at home, came by hundreds and thousands to settle 
in the colony which was known to be friendly to them. 
Among these refugees were the ancestors of George 
Washington, James Madison, James Monroe, John Mar¬ 
shall, and other famous men. Most of these loyalists were 
country gentlemen, and they settled on plantations along 
the rivers. Virginia grew and thrived. 




78 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1649 


In Maryland, the Commonwealth caused hardships. Clay- 
borne, who had led several revolts, again raised an insurrec¬ 
tion. For a while, the government was controlled by a 
group of Puritans. They repealed the Toleration Act, 
and ruled so harshly that Cromwell at last interfered and 
restored Lord Baltimore to power. 

Puritan New England sympathized with Puritan England, 
and promptly declared against the king. When English 
Puritans came to power, they naturally showed favor to their 
friends in America. New England prospered. Massachu¬ 
setts extended her authority over the settlements in New 
Hampshire, Vermont, and Maine, set up a mint to make 

small coins, and 
regulated church 
affairs more 
strictly than did 
Puritan England. 
Members of the 
Church of Eng¬ 
land were not al¬ 
lowed to vote nor 
even to hold their 
own church ser¬ 
vices. 

Affairs in New 
Netherland. — 

English affairs 
affected the 
Dutch colony of 
New Netherland 
but little. It 
thrived under the 
rule of Governor Peter Stuyvesant. ‘ Old Silver Leg,’ or 
‘ Headstrong Peter,’ as he was called, was a queer figure 



Peter Stuyvesant 



1651) 


ENGLISH COLONIES 


79 


stumping about on his wooden leg ornamented with bands 
of silver, but he was a brave, able, and energetic man. 
By force of arms, he compelled the Swedes on the Dela¬ 
ware River to own Dutch authority and made New Sweden 
again a part of New Netherland. Farms were cleared 
and tilled, villages were built up, trade increased. The 
thrifty Dutch prospered in New Netherland. 

The Restoration [1660]. — But changes were at hand for 
all the colonies. After Cromwell died, the English people 
restored the kingdom, and Charles II., the son of Charles 
I., was made king. This is called the Restoration. Tid¬ 
ings of it were received with very different feelings in the 
different colonies. Virginia promptly and gladly owned 
Charles II. as king. 

The New England colonies, on the other hand, heard 
with deep regret of the Restoration; most of them put off 
acknowledging King Charles as long as possible. The 
king punished New Haven for helping his enemies by 
making it a part of Connecticut which had acknowledged 
him promptly. He gave Connecticut and Rhode Island 
liberal charters, allowing them to make their own laws and 
elect their own governors. 

Navigation Acts. — While Cromwell was ruling the Eng¬ 
lish Commonwealth, Parliament passed a Navigation Act 
requiring that the merchandise of the colonies should 
be carried in English ships manned by English crews. 
This act was intended to shut out the Dutch and to build 
up English trade. As the ships and crews of the colonies 
were ‘ English,’ the act was no great hardship to them. 

But when Charles II. became king, stricter laws were 
passed. These new Navigation Acts required that certain 
products, such as tobacco, should be shipped only to Eng¬ 
land. Later, laws required the colonists to buy from 
England all their manufactured goods. 


8o SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1664 


Seizure of New Netherland [1664].—The colonies com¬ 
plained of these laws, but prospered under them. True, 
they were not very strictly obeyed. It was hard, if not 
impossible, to enforce the Navigation Acts while a Dutch 
colony occupied the middle coast. The Dutch sea captains 
were ready to aid their English neighbors and to make 
profit for themselves by carrying on a smuggling trade. 

For this and other reasons, King Charles resolved to take 
possession of the whole coast, which the English had never 
ceased to claim. He granted his brother James, Duke of 
York and Albany, the territory on which the Dutch settle¬ 
ments were situated. An English fleet under Colonel 
Richard Nicolls was sent to take possession of it. The 
fleet entered New York Bay and demanded the surrender 
of New Amsterdam. The Dutch and English were at 
peace, and the city was not prepared to resist the unex¬ 
pected attack. Stuyvesant, the brave old Dutch governor, 
was compelled to surrender. 

“ I had rather be carried to my grave,” he said. 

The name of the colony was changed from New Nether¬ 
land to New York, in honor of its English master. The 
flourishing town of New Amsterdam, in which there were 
1500 of the 7000 Dutch inhabitants, became New York 
City. Colonel Nicolls, an able and sensible man, was 
made governor of the colony. All people were given 
equal rights in trade and religion, and the Dutch settlers 
became contented, loyal English subjects. 

This seizure of Dutch territory gave the English control 
of the great central harbor and water-way, and it removed 
the foreign wedge from between the northern and southern 
colonies. The long Atlantic coast, from the bleak north 
to the flowery south, from French Canada to Spanish 
Florida, was English territory. 

Settlement of New Jersey.— Even before he knew the 


i66 4 ] 


ENGLISH COLONIES 


81 


result of Nicolls’s expedition, the Duke of York granted 
the southern part of his province to his friends, Lord 
Berkeley and Sir George Carteret. This territory was 
called New Jersey, in honor of Sir George Carteret who 
had been governor of the island of Jersey. Carteret took 
the eastern part of the territory and Berkeley the western 
part. In the course of a few years, East and West Jersey 
were sold to companies of proprietors. Many settlers 
came to them, attracted by their natural advantages and 
good government. 

Carolina grant [1663]. — Virginia had now another new 
neighbor, Carolina. King Charles granted to eight noble¬ 
men as lords proprietors “ all the region lying south of 
Virginia, extending from 31 0 to 36° north latitude, and 
westward across the continent from ocean to ocean.” 
In honor of the king, this region was called Carolina, from 
Carolus , the Latin name for Charles. The name Carolana 
had been given to it a hundred years before by French 
settlers in honor of their king, Charles IX. 

Albemarle settlement. — The settlement of the northern 
part of this territory had been begun by people from 
Virginia several years before the grant to the lords proprie¬ 
tors. The first settlement was established on Albemarle 
Sound. It was an unwholesome site, but there as else¬ 
where the settlers preferred the swampy, unhealthful coast 
to the fertile, wholesome interior which was shut in by 
forests. In spite of disadvantages, the Albemarle settle¬ 
ment prospered. During the next few years, other 
settlements were established here and there at favorable 
places. From these beginnings grew the colony of North 
Carolina. 

The people who came to this section were, for the most 
part, sturdy, energetic men who took up small farms and 
usually had few slaves. They raised corn, tobacco, and 


82 


SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1670 


cattle, and shipped the produce of their noble pine forests, 
— lumber, tar, pitch, and turpentine. By the end of the 
seventeenth century, the northern Carolina settlements 
had 5000 people. 

Charleston settlement [1670].—A few years after the 
Carolina grant was made, the lords proprietors sent out a 
colony. This settled in the south at Charlestown, or 
Charleston. The first settlers came from England ; later, 
there came Scotch, Irish, Germans, and Huguenots or 
French Protestants. At first, the Frenchmen were not 
given equal rights with other settlers, but they were intel¬ 
ligent, industrious people who won their way and aided in 
building up the colony. • The end of the seventeenth 
century found about 7000 people in the southern Carolina 
settlement. Instead of small farms as in northern Caro¬ 
lina, there were large plantations worked by slaves. 

About the end of the seventeenth century, the cultiva¬ 
tion of rice was begun. A sea captain gave a bag of seed 
rice to a gentleman in the colony, and it was planted as 
an experiment. Soil and climate favored its growth. 
Rice became the chief crop of the colony and was used 
for money as tobacco was in Virginia. 

Government of Carolina. -— The proprietors adopted for 
Carolina a form of government called the ‘Grand Model/ 
but the people insisted on having a voice in making their 
own laws, and at last their demands were granted. 

Summary [1649-1694]. — During the English Commonwealth, Vir¬ 
ginia was built up by loyalist refugees, the Maryland government was 
upset by a rebellion, and New England prospered under the friendly 
home government. Soon after the Restoration, New Netherland was 
seized from the Dutch; the northern part became the colony of New 
York; the southern part formed two colonies called East Jersey and 
West Jersey. The territory south of Virginia was granted by King 
Charles to eight noblemen and was named for him Carolina. Two 
distinct settlements grew up in Carolina: one in the north on Albe¬ 
marle Sound, and one in the south around Charleston. 


6 7 6 ] 


ENGLISH COLONIES 


83 


6. Bacon’s Rebellion and King Philip’s War 

Governor Berkeley.—Virginia had other grievances be¬ 
sides the grant of the southern territory to the lords pro¬ 
prietors. The people were dissatisfied with their governor, 
Sir William Berkeley. In his young days, he had seemed 
a frank, high-spirited gentleman, but as years passed he 
showed himself self-willed and narrow-minded. He ap¬ 
proved high taxes and did not wish the common people to 
vote; above all, he opposed public education and the 
liberty of the press. 

“ I thank God there are no free schools nor printing 
presses,” he said, “and I hope we shall not have them 
these hundred years.” 

He and his friends got control of the House of Burgesses, 
and ruled with little regard for the people’s rights. 

Most of the Virginians disapproved Berkeley’s course, 
but he was their governor, and they were loyal, law-abiding 
people ; probably they would have gone on grumbling and 
submitting to him had there not arisen trouble with the 
Indians which he would not settle nor allow others to 
settle. 

Bacon’s Rebellion [1676]. — Fierce Indian tribes attacked 
the borders, laying waste plantations and killing many set¬ 
tlers. The House of Burgesses voted to send five hundred 
men against these savages, but Berkeley disbanded the 
force. Some people said he valued his profitable fur trade 
with the Indians more than the lives of the colonists ; others 
thought he feared that after the little army settled the 
disturbance on the borders, it would turn against his 
arbitrary government. Whatever his motive, he disbanded 
the force and left the frontiers unprotected. 

A few weeks later, news came that the Indians had 
attacked a plantation belonging to Mr. Nathaniel Bacon 


84 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1676 


and had killed the overseer and a servant. Mr. Bacon 
was a young Englishman, as high-spirited and resolute 
as the governor himself. As soon as he heard of the 
Indian attack, he collected a little band to pursue the 
savages. He sent to ask the governor for a commission. 
It was refused, and he marched on without it, defeated 
the Indians, and returned home. 

Berkeley would gladly have punished Bacon as a traitor 
because he had led an armed band without a commission, 
but the sympathies of the people were with the young 
leader. The governor had to call a new assembly and give 
Bacon a commission to fight the Indians. Hardly had the 
troops marched away, however, before Berkeley declared 
their leader a traitor and an outlaw and raised troops to 
use against him. After conquering the Indians, the little 
army marched against the governor. Bacon showed no 
desire to assume power himself; his only aim seemed 
to be to put an end to unjust government and to defend 
the rights of the people. A few weeks after he took up 
arms, he died of fever, and with his life the rebellion ended. 
Berkeley was again master of the colony. He took swift 
and severe revenge on his enemies, hanging more than 
twenty persons for having taken part in the rebellion. 

“ As I live, the old fool has put to death more people in 
that naked country than I did for the murder of my 
father,” exclaimed King Charles. 

King Philip’s War [1675-1676].—While Bacon’s Rebel¬ 
lion was going on in Virginia, New England was being laid 
waste by an Indian war. When the Indians sold land for 
beads, knives, cloth, and trinkets, they thought that the Eng¬ 
lish, like their tribes, wished only to use it for hunting and 
fishing. They watched with increasing anger the growth 
of farms, villages, and towns. Year by year, the white men 
and the red men grew more unfriendly. The races were 


1675] 


ENGLISH COLONIES 


8 S 


too different to live and prosper side by side. The English 
settlers treated the Indians with contempt as an inferior 
race, and resented their disregard of property rights, their 
gathering grain and fruit like wild berries, their shooting 
cattle like deer. The Indians looked on the white people 
as one tribe and revenged themselves on any one of the 
race for the unjust acts of another. Moreover, firearms 
and ‘ fire water ’ were spread abroad among the savages 
with deadly effect. 

During the lifetime of Massasoit, his ‘ treaty of friend¬ 
ship ’ with the English was unbroken. An open outbreak 
came in the time of Massasoit’s son, Philip, who was a 
famous warrior, brave, wise, and prudent. The war is 
called for him King Philip’s War, but it is not known what 
part he took in it. One day a settler fired at and wounded 
an Indian who had shot his oxen. A few days later, a band 
of Indians attacked and burned a village. The aroused 
savages went from one bloody deed to another; they burned 
houses and villages, killed men, women, and children. 

The Swamp Fight.—The fierce Narragansett Indians 
had their headquarters on an island in a swamp. This 
was thought to be inaccessible, and here the women and 
children were assembled and food was stored. One 
December day, a thousand soldiers made their way to the 
island. In this ‘ Swamp Fight,’ most of the men, women, 
and children gathered on the island were killed, and the 
fort with its five hundred wigwams was burned. 

The next summer, Philip was hunted down and shot, and 
the remnant of his tribe was overcome. The Indians were 
killed, driven away, or sold as slaves in the West Indies. 
Among those sold as slaves were King Philip’s wife and 
his little son. The colonists suffered severely in this war. 
Many villages were destroyed, hundreds of dwellings were 
burned, and hundreds of men, women, and children were 


86 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1684 


killed. There was hardly a village or even a home in New 
England which did not suffer loss. 

Massachusetts charter withdrawn [1684]. —Soon after 
King Philip’s War, King Charles took from Massachusetts 
the territory west of Maine which it 
had controlled for many years; this 
was made into the royal province of 
New Hampshire. The king called 
Massachusetts to account for break¬ 
ing the Navigation Acts and for coin¬ 
ing money and doing other things not 
permitted by its charter. The charter 
was declared forfeited, and Massachu¬ 
setts was made a royal colony. It was not allowed to 
retain Maine which it had bought from the heirs of Gorges. 



Pine Tree Shilling 


Summary [1675-1684]. -— Bacon's Rebellion was a revolt in Virginia, 
led by Nathaniel Bacon against the bad government of Governor 
Berkeley. After Bacon's death, the rebellion was put down. About 
the same time, there was an Indian war in New England, called King 
Philip's War. Nearly half the New England settlements were destroyed 
and the power of the Indians was broken. Soon after this war. Charles 
II. made New Hampshire a royal province, took away the Massachusetts 
charter, and made it a royal colony. 


7. The Settlement of Pennsylvania 

Pennsylvania grant [1681]. — William Penn’s father was 
a bluff English admiral who longed to see his son master of 
an estate and a title. Young Penn, however, turned from 
the gay life of the court and joined the Quakers. He and 
some other Quakers purchased West Jersey as a place of 
refuge for their sect. But Penn wished to have a colony 
of his own. After his father’s death, he asked King 
Charles to give him a tract of land west of the Delaware 
River, offering to take this in payment of sixteen thousand 


ENGLISH COLONIES 


87 


l68l] 


pounds due his father. The king was glad to grant a 
wilderness instead of paying gold from his treasury. He 
gave the young Quaker a vast territory which was called 
Pennsylvania, meaning ‘ Penn’s woodland.’ 

Maryland protested in vain against the grant to Penn of 
the land about the Delaware which was hers by charter. 
For eighty years, there were disputes about the boundary 
between the two colonies. It was finally fixed by two 
surveyors, Mason and Dixon, who ran the boundary called 
Mason and Dixon’s line. 

Penn’s colony. — The land which Penn bought from the 
king did not border on the ocean. In order to have a 
water outlet, he obtained from the Duke of York the ter¬ 
ritory which afterward formed the state of Delaware. 
Within a few months, twenty-three shiploads of colonists 
came to Pennsylvania. Not only English Quakers came, 
but also Welsh, Scotch, Irish, Swedish, Dutch, and Ger¬ 
man people. Penn founded a town which he called 
Philadelphia, ‘ the city of brotherly love.’ 

A year later, he could truly say, “ I have led the greatest 
colony into America that ever any man did upon a private 
credit, and the most prosperous beginnings that ever were 
in it are to be found among us.” Soon Pennsylvania 
was third in population and wealth among the colonies, 
being surpassed by only Virginia and Massachusetts. It 
was the last of the thirteen English colonies, with the ex¬ 
ception of Georgia which was established a half century 
later. Seventy-four years before Pennsylvania was founded, 
the first English settlement was made at Jamestown. Thus 
in a lifetime, we may say, twelve colonies were founded 
and English power was established along the Atlantic 
coast. 

There were several reasons for the prosperity of Penn¬ 
sylvania. It had fertile soil and other natural advantages. 


88 


SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1683 


Moreover, it had a good government; established as a 
place of refuge for the persecuted sect of Quakers, it was 
a “free colony for all mankind,” tolerating all creeds and 
races. Like Lord Baltimore, Penn put the control of his 
colony in the hands of its freemen. “You shall be gov¬ 
erned by laws of your own making,” he said to his colonists, 
“ and live a free and, if you will, a sober and industrious 
people.” 

Penn's treaty with Indians. — Penn was not satisfied 
with purchasing Pennsylvania from the king of England. 
He thought that the natives had rights which ought to be 



Penn’s Treaty with the Indians 


regarded, and he paid them also for the land. Soon after 
his arrival, he met the Indian chiefs in council, and a treaty 
of peace and friendship was formed. The red men prom¬ 
ised to “live in love with William Penn and his children as 
long as the moon and sun shall endure.” The peace pipe 
was smoked and belts of wampum were exchanged to con¬ 
firm the treaty; the belt given by the Indians to Penn is 
still kept. 

King James II. — A few years after the Pennsylvania 




1685] 


ENGLISH COLONIES 


89 



grant, Charles II. died, and his brother James, Duke of 
York, became king. King James was a bitter, sullen man, 

who wished to 
rule according 
to his own will 
and make all people 
conform to his re¬ 
ligious views. 

Governor Andros. — 
Without regard to their 
charter rights or their 
wishes, he resolved to 
unite the colonies from 
Maine to New Jersey in 
one province. Andros was 
made governor of this ‘ prov¬ 
ince of New England.’ He 
was a rough soldier who made himself thoroughly hated. 
With the aid of royal troops, he tried to carry out the 
king’s orders, — to suppress printing presses, to execute 
the trade laws, to lay taxes without the consent of the 
people’s assemblies. 


Peace Pipes 



Wampum Belt 


He took away the Rhode Island charter. He demanded 
the Connecticut charter from the assembly at Hartford; 
suddenly, all the candles in the assembly room were blown 
out, and when they were lighted, the charter, which had 
been on the table, was gone. Andros stormed and de- 











9 ° 


SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1688 


manded it in vain. At last he declared the government 
at an end and went away. The charter, it is said, lay safe 
for three years in a hollow tree, called the Charter Oak. 

Revolution of 1688.—The English people would not 
long submit to King James’s disregard of their rights. 
Parliament deposed him and gave the throne to his daugh¬ 
ter Mary and her husband, William of Orange. By this 
act, Parliament established itself as the supreme power of 
England. After the Revolution of 1688, the king, instead 
of being master, was subject to the people’s will declared 
in Parliament. 

The colonies welcomed ‘the glorious Revolution.’ I11 
New York, a popular party led by a German merchant, 
named Jacob Leisler, took control of affairs. This unedu¬ 
cated but brave and patriotic man acted as governor for 
over a year. When the governor sent by William and 
Mary came over, Leisler was hanged on an unjust charge 
of treason. 

King William’s rule. — In course of time, affairs settled 
down, and William of Orange ruled in his firm, orderly, 
business-like way. He organized a Board of Trade to 
oversee and direct affairs in the colonies. Connecticut and 
Rhode Island had their charter rights restored. Massa¬ 
chusetts was given a new charter [1691]; by this, Massachu¬ 
setts Bay and Plymouth were united in one royal colony 
and Maine and Nova Scotia were added to it. Men of all 
religions were to be allowed to vote, hold office, and have 
their own church services. 

Witchcraft delusion. — Near the end of the seventeenth 
century, a wave of superstition swept over New England.. 
At that time, most people in the Old and the New World 
believed in witchcraft. They thought that people called 
witches made bargains with the devil and obtained power to- 
change their shapes, to ride through the air on broomsticks. 



^Tp Earl 
■ of Sterling- 


-•^'Montreal 


Temaquid 


Temaquid 


L.OnUO^ 


•nation 


ATIO.N 3 


/jf«rri»*ao R> 


Albany /j 


']Jerri>i an 
lioBt'J'-l 


SteJZtf) 


Quebec 


fifurri milt 




s rtl Claimed / ,N 

.-•A jU«ss ; ,.jr?‘/ 


/ Ti: si 

. 4 H3^|i 

is. / s of | 

Korfc 


Claimed, by 
Connecticut 


40 - 


ar-V?*^ 

V-, / & »«i -- 

Vc 3 \t { 


'«-V 


1650 


1665 




i* 


Fronte 


Ft 


5 ?!^isJPPA-T+^P l 

' Dieted ly l^/ / ST” 

N.V.andPl | v<\ /ofMASS.^ 

P _.—r^ 4 - ' f-i- T">. c' 

k. 5 x vi 
he- * 


Uamulain 

f 4 . 

PFI-VE-- nAT-ICN 3 V / Jj ^ 
Dispute l ly ! / /”" ’- 

\ 2 / mA»s. 


iaoBM^yeNs ce- 75 ' 


* V 

* Charter Colonies 

Proprietary Colonies ,_ 

Royal Colonies I 

to” 1688 


P?'V\liYL 


r u 4*3? 


£U.S-*i^r 7 i;ilSLY 

WW 


* (16 

'1%° Longitude West from Greenwi 


lferriinac 


> N 


N AT 






















































































1692] 


ENGLISH COLONIES 


9 1 

and to cause storms and illness. Many people in New Eng¬ 
land, especially ugly, friendless, old women, were accused 
of being witches. Hundreds of persons were thrown into 
prison. At Salem, Massachusetts, nineteen persons charged 
with witchcraft were hanged and many were tortured. 

Summary [1681-1692]. —The colony of Pennsylvania was founded 
by William Penn and was made a place of refuge for people of all creeds 
and races. Its natural advantages and good government soon made it 
third in wealth and population among the English colonies. Penn bought 
also the territory which afterward formed the state of Delaware. King 
Charles II. was succeeded by King James II., who ruled with so little 
regard to the people’s rights that he was deposed by Parliament, and 
William and Mary were made sovereigns. 


8. The Colonies at the End of the Seventeenth 
Century 

English colonies. —The first permanent English settlement 
in the New World was made at Jamestown in Virginia 
in 1607 ; the end of the century found twelve English colo¬ 
nies firmly established along the Atlantic coast. The 
people in these colonies differed in many ways, but they 
had more points of likeness than of unlikeness. Most of 
them were English, but there were also many Scotch, Irish, 
Dutch, Germans, Swedes, and French. The colonists did 
not consider themselves Americans ; they were English 
people living in America. As they had less contact with 
the outside world, they had changed less during the century 
than their fellow-countrymen in England. The chief 
change was that their wits were quickened and their ener¬ 
gies developed by their struggles to occupy the wilderness. 
Though life in the new country was rough, there was less 
suffering for food and clothes than in Europe. Land was 
cheap. People who would work could always make a liv¬ 
ing and had a chance to improve their condition. 


92 


SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1600-1700 


Industries. — At first, people tried many new industries, 
endeavoring to raise silk, wine, olives, and coffee from 
New England to Georgia. By degrees, they learned to 
adapt their undertakings to conditions in the country. 
They cleared farms and cultivated native crop plants as 
well as those brought from Europe. Their tools and 
methods were very crude. A farmer had a few hoes and 
spades and perhaps a clumsy wooden plow; sometimes 


there was only 
one plow in a 
neighborhood, 
which several 
men used by 
turns. They 
merely scratched 
the surface soil, 
believing that 



Wooden Plow 


‘deep plowing would poison the land.’ Cattle, hogs, 
sheep, and horses brought from England and Holland 
thrived in all the colonies. Land was seldom cleared or 
fenced for pastures. Animals were branded or had their 
ears cut wdth their owner’s mark, and were turned into the 
woods. 

On the rocky, sterile soil of the northern colonies, 
farming was unprofitable. New Englanders raised only 
needed foodstuffs and sought other sources of wealth. 
Their vast forests were full of excellent timber; off the 
coast were cod and mackerel, and the seas near Greenland 
were frequented by whales. Lumbering, shipbuilding, 
fishing, and seafaring became the chief industries of New 
England. Its rich men were merchants and shipowners. 

Lumbering, seafaring, and agriculture were carried on in 
the middle colonies. Wheat, corn, and cattle were shipped 
from the Jerseys, Pennsylvania, and Maryland. New York 


1600-1700] 


ENGLISH COLONIES 


93 



Rolling Tobacco to Market 


was a busy little trading town from which furs, cattle, 
lumber, and grain were shipped. It had only a few hun¬ 
dred inhabitants, and pastures and grain fields occupied 
what are now the great streets of Fifth Avenue and Broad¬ 
way. 

In the southern colonies, the soil was fertile, the climate 
mild, the rainfall abundant. This section was engaged 
almost entirely in agricul¬ 
ture. Here, the planters 
were the rich men. In 
Maryland and Virginia, 
tobacco was the chief 
crop, and a man’s wealth 
was reckoned in the 
pounds of that staple 
which he raised. Cattle, 
tobacco, tar, pitch, and lumber were shipped from North 
Carolina. In South Carolina, the cultivation of rice was 
being begun. 

All the colonies carried on a fur trade with the Indians. 
Traders went into the border country with pack horses 
laden with goods — beads, cloth, knives, hatchets, and 
brandy — to exchange for the skins of bears, beaver, deer, 
and buffalo. 

The colonists made at home many things for which 
people now depend on factories and shops. Men made of 
wood many tools and utensils, such as hinges, plows, 
spoons, and dishes. They cobbled shoes and made furni¬ 
ture and harness. They raised hemp, flax, and cotton, and 
sheared sheep for wool. The women carded, spun, and 
dyed these materials, wove them into cloth, and made 
clothes for their families. Women made soap and candles, 
did their own housework, and cared for their children. It 
was a busy, wholesome, and usually contented life. 


94 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1600-1700 


Labor.—There were in all the colonies indented serv¬ 
ants, or redemptioners. These were bound to serve a cer¬ 
tain number of years, and during this, period they were 
bought and sold like slaves. Some sold themselves to pay 
their passage to America; some were criminals sentenced 
to service for a term of years as punishment for offenses; 



Priscilla Spinning 


some were children who were stolen and sold. Few in¬ 
dented servants came over after the seventeenth century. 

Instead, negro slaves were brought to all the colonies. 
In the North, they were used chiefly as house servants; 
they suffered too much from the severe climate to be 
profitable outdoor servants. Under the mild climate of 
the South, they thrived and proved profitable farm laborers. 
Few people thought that slavery was wrong, but many 
thought that it was a bad form of labor. A Virginia gen¬ 
tleman, himself a slave-owner, said of slaves, “ They blow 
up the pride and ruin the industry of our white people.’ 1 
The Quakers and some other people in all sections con¬ 
demned slavery, and thought, as pious John Eliot said, 







1600-1700] 


ENGLISH COLONIES 


95 


“To sell souls for money seemeth to me a dangerous 
merchandise.” 

Means of transit. — The first colonists settled near the 
coast so as to be in reach of the mother country for the 
sake of supplies and commerce. Later settlements were 
built up along the coast and on streams which served as 
roads. Great pathless forests barred the way to the in¬ 
terior. It was easier to go from either of the Carolinas 
to England than to make one’s way through the two hun¬ 
dred and fifty miles of wilderness which lay between the 
Albemarle and Charleston settlements. When it was neces¬ 
sary to travel across the country, people went on foot or 
horseback; goods were carried on pack horses. Except 
in New England, the colonies had little to do with their 
neighbors. 

Houses and furniture. — Most of the colonists lived in 
log cabins. These were often built without the use of 
iron or glass both of which were scarce and expensive. 
Wooden pegs were used instead of nails, hinges were made 
of wood or leather, and instead of a lock and key there 
was a wooden latch with a string. The cabin had one 
door. Often there was no window; sometimes there was 
one, left open or covered with oiled paper instead of glass, 
and protected by heavy wooden shutters. The roof was of 
bark, straw, or shingles on log rafters; the chimney, built 
of logs or stone, had a large fireplace which took up most 
of one side of the room. The fire logs were four or five 
feet long; sometimes horses were used to draw the great 
logs to the hearth. Wood was the fuel used everywhere ; 
the great coal beds of the country were unknown. 

The furniture of the cabin consisted of a few simple 
articles hewn out of logs, —bedsteads, tables, benches, and 
stools, and a few wooden or pewter dishes. Such were the 
homes of the common people. 


g 6 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1600-1700 


Rich people lived in well-built frame, stone, or brick 
houses. These were of the style of architecture now 
called colonial. They were large and square, with wide 
halls, great staircases, and stacks of chimneys. They were 
furnished with handsome beds, chairs, chests, clocks, china, 
and silverware brought from England. 

Food. — Food was cooked on the fireplace in skillets, pots, 
and griddles and on spits. Among the poorer classes, corn 
and pork were the chief articles of food. The colonists 
learned from the Indians to cultivate corn, beans, and 
pumpkins, and to prepare corn in various ways. They 
pounded the dry grain into meal for bread, or made it into 
mush, hominy, and succotash. They used also wheat and 
rye bread, and their gardens supplied herbs and a few 
vegetables. Potatoes, now our chief vegetable, were little 
used. It was believed that the eating of a potato a day 
for seven days would kill a person. Tea and coffee were 
almost unknown; people drank homemade beer and cider 
and a great deal of wine and strong liquors. 

Dress. — Men wore knee breeches and long stockings ; 
women wore caps, close-fitting bodices, and full skirts. 
Poor people had coarse clothes of homespun linen and 
woolen or of dressed skins. Workmen were required by 
law to wear coarse cloth; often they were “ clothed all in 
leather.” Rich people followed the London fashions. 
Gentlemen rivaled ladies in gay and handsome dress; they 
wore wigs, silk stockings, fine linen, lace ruffles, clothes of 
silk, satin, and velvet, adorned with jewels and gold and 
silver buckles. 

Social life. —In New England, groups of families form¬ 
ing religious congregations lived together in villages and 
towns. A church and a blockhouse were the center of 
each settlement; around these were the houses of the 
minister, merchants, blacksmiths, carpenters, and farmers 


1600-1700] 


ENGLISH COLONIES 


97 


In all the colonies, hunting, fishing, and other outdoor 
sports were the chief amusements of the people. In the 
middle colonies, especially in New York, dancing and 
spinning bees were popular. The farmers and planters of 
the South lived so far apart that it was said ‘no man could 
hear his neighbor’s dog bark.* They met at church and 
at the horse-races, 
hunts, and other 
sports enjoyed by 
English country 
gentlemen. 

In all the colo¬ 
nies, there were 
strict social dis¬ 
tinctions. Only 
the gentry were 
allowed to use 
the prefixes ‘Mr.’ 
and‘Mrs.’; other 
people were 
called ‘Goodman’ 
and ‘ Goodwife.’ 

People were 
seated in church 
according to their social position, and boys in college 
classes were arranged according to the rank of their 
parents. 

Education. — The training of children was strict. They 
had daily tasks and Bible lessons, and were punished 
severely for little faults. They were taught that industry, 
good habits, and “ good manners (a civil, kind, handsome, 
and courageous behavior) render them truly serviceable in 
the world.” 

There were free schools in some of the colonies. One 

H 















g 8 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1600-1700 

of the first was established in Virginia [1634] by a colonist 
who gave two hundred and fifty acres of land and eight 
cows for the purpose. The ‘three R’s’ — reading, ’riting, 
and ’rithmetic — and Latin and Greek were the chief 
branches of study. Children went to school six days in 

the week and often spent 
eight or ten hours a day in 
the schoolroom. They had 
few holidays; there was a 
summer vacation of about 
two weeks. The idle or stu¬ 
pid child who failed to learn 
his long, difficult lessons was 
whipped and had a dunce cap 
put on his head. 

In the South, farms and 
plantations were so far apart 
that there were few schools. 
The children of southern 
planters were usually taught 
by tutors at home; sometimes 
these tutors were indented 
servants, sometimes they were scholars from English uni¬ 
versities. The sons of many wealthy colonists were sent 
to England to be educated. During the first century of 
colonial life, three colleges were established: Harvard in 
Massachusetts, William and Mary in Virginia, and Yale in 
Connecticut. 

Literature. — In early colonial days, people had few 
books and no newspapers. The first printing press in the 
United States was set up in Massachusetts [1639]; the 
first book printed on it was the Bay Psalm Book, made by 
ministers for church use. The best-known book was the 
New England Primer, with its quaint verses and pictures. 





1600-1700] 


ENGLISH COLONIES 


99 



The first newspaper was established early in the eighteenth 
century at Boston. 

Some of the early discoverers, explorers, and colonists 
wrote interesting accounts of the country and of their ex¬ 


periences. Captain John Smith wrote at Jamestown his 
True Relation describing the Virginia colony. William 
Bradford wrote the narrative of the Pilgrims’ journeyings 
and their settling in the New World. John Winthrop 
kept a chronicle of events in the Massachusetts Bay 
colony. These three men wrote in a vivid, entertaining 
style and their books are still read with interest. Most of 
the colonial authors were New England clergymen who 
wrote books about religious doctrines, few of which are 
read to-day. 


Illustration from Plain Things for Little Folks 




ioo SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1600-1700 


Medicine. — In colonial days, little was known about the 
science of medicine. There were few professional doctors. 
The healing art was practiced by ministers who had read 
some medical books or by women who had picked up a 
knowledge of simple remedies and of herbs which they 
raised in their gardens. Barbers often acted as surgeons. 
Quack doctors traveled about selling pills and powders of 
their own making, which they claimed would cure all 
diseases. Blood-letting was a favorite remedy; insects, 
such as grasshoppers and silkworms, boiled in oil or dried 
and powdered, were used as remedies for various diseases. 
Toads burned to a cinder and powdered were given as a 
cure for smallpox. When we consider the remedies used, 
we do not wonder that whole communities were laid waste 
by smallpox and other contagious diseases. 

Government. — On the whole, the colonies were much 
alike in government. Each had a governor and two law¬ 
making bodies, a council and an assembly. The council 
was usually composed of members appointed by the king 
or the proprietor; the assembly, which was the tax-laying 
body, was composed of members elected by the people. 
In every colony, the suffrage, or right to vote, was limited 
to men who had a certain amount of property or were 
members of a certain church. 

The laws were strict, like those of England and other 
countries. They decided such matters as the wages of 
laborers, the price of corn, and how far from the street 
houses should be set. There were many meddlesome laws 
that interfered with personal liberty. In New England, 
people were punished for dancing; in Virginia, they were 
fined for being absent from church. For theft and many 
other offenses, people were hanged; for smaller offenses, 
they were gagged, whipped, ducked, put in the stocks or 
pillory, branded with hot irons, or had their ears clipped. 


1600-1700] 


ENGLISH COLONIES 


101 


Slaves were burned alive for killing their masters or for 
setting fire to houses. In only three colonies were people 
allowed religious 
freedom, — in Bap¬ 
tist Rhode Island, 

Roman Catholic 
Maryland, and 
Quaker Pennsyl¬ 
vania. 

Summary [1600- 
1700]. — At the end of 
the seventeenth century, 
there were twelve Eng¬ 
lish colonies established 
along the Atlantic coast. 

Most of the settlements 
were on the seacoast and 
along the streams. The 
northern colonies were 
engaged in lumbering, 
shipbuilding, and seafar¬ 
ing; the middle ones in lumbering, seafaring, and agriculture; and the 
southern ones in agriculture. In all the colonies, there were slaves 
and indented servants. The New Englanders lived chiefly in villages 
and towns, the southern people on farms and plantations. Most people 
wore coarse clothing and lived in log cabins of which the furniture 
was homemade; rich people wore fine clothes and had in their stately 
houses handsome furniture brought from England. The chief branches 
taught in the schools were reading, writing, and arithmetic. There 
were three colleges: Harvard, William and Mary, and Yale. There 
were no newspapers ; the chief books of the time were accounts of the 
country by Smith, Bradford, and Winthrop, and religious treatises by 
New England ministers. In general government, the colonies were 
much alike, each having a governor and a council and an assembly. 
Laws were strict and regulated personal and religious affairs. 



















CHAPTER III 


THE FRENCH-ENGLISH CONTEST 
i. King William’s and Queen Anne’s War 

French in America.—The king of France aided James 
II. in his attempt to regain the English throne, and so the 
Revolution of 1688 was followed by war between France 
and England. This was the beginning of a long contest 
that finally decided which of the two nations should pos¬ 
sess America. 

Eet us look back and see what the French had accom¬ 
plished in the New World. At first, they moved slowly. 
It was three-quarters of a century after Verrazano explored 
the coast before a permanent settlement was made in 
Canada. A quarter of a century later, there were only 
two hundred French colonists in America. Afterward, 
settlement advanced rapidly. When William of Orange 
became king, there were in America 12,000 French¬ 
men,— adventurers exploring the wilderness, soldiers 
establishing forts, traders gathering rich harvests of 
furs, fishermen making great hauls of cod and herring, 
farmers clearing settlements in the forest, missionaries 
teaching the natives the glory of God and the power of 
France. 

These enterprising men made their way far beyond the 
settlements along the St. Lawrence. Two of them, Father 
Marquette and his soldier comrade Joliet, went in search 


102 


1678] 


THE FRENCH-ENGL1SH CONTEST 


103 


of a great river described by Indians, which they thought 
might be the longed-for passage to Asia. They found this 
river, the Mississippi [1678], and de¬ 
scended it in birchbark canoes as far as 
the mouth of the Arkansas. 

La Salle. — A few years later — the 
very year that Penn came to America — 
brave, wise Robert de la Salle descended 
the Mississippi [1682] and explored the 
three channels by which it enters the 
Gulf of Mexico. He took possession 
of the great Mississippi Valley, extend¬ 
ing from the Alleghenies to the Rocky 
Mountains, in the name of the French 
king, Louis XIV., for whom he called 
the country Louisiana. In a letter to 
the king, La Salle said that the country 
was “ so beautiful and so fertile, so free 
from forests and so full of meadows, 
brooks, and rivers, so abounding in fish, game, and venison, 
that one can find there ... all that is needful for the 
support of flourishing colonies.” This mild, fertile region 
seemed to him a better place for a French colony than the 
bleak wilds, of Canada, and he led thither a band of settlers. 
They intended to settle near the mouth of the Mississippi, 
but the vessels went too far west and landed on the coast 
of Texas. The colony did not prosper. La Salle was 
murdered by his own men while on his way to Canada for 
aid, and the settlement was destroyed. 

New France. — It was a vast and noble country that the 
French claimed,—their New France which included 
Canada and the great Louisiana territory. But it was 
many-months’ journey from their homeland, and the 
fivers which gave access to it presented barriers also ; tbej 




104 


SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE 



America Two Centuries after Discovery 


SOHMAIf * CO., N..rJ 



































i68g] THE FRENCH-ENGLISH CONTEST 105 

St. Lawrence was ice-bound through the long winter, and 
the mouths of the Mississippi were malarial swamps. 

By degrees, however, the French occupied the country. 
Traders, soldiers, and missionaries went up and down 
the rivers, establishing trading posts, forts, and mission- 
houses from the mouth of the St. Lawrence to the outlets 
of the Mississippi, two thousand miles away. 

The French found it easy to occupy the interior be¬ 
cause they were on friendly terms with most of the 
native tribes. Traders, called conreurs de bois or wood 
rangers, adopted Indian dress and customs, and many 
of them married squaw wives. Indians came by hundreds 
to the trading posts to exchange beaver skins for cloth, 
beads, and knives. Only the fierce Iroquois were the 
deadly enemies of the French. They never forgot nor 
forgave the alliance of Champlain with their Algonquin 
foes. Year after year, their warrior tribes, like a great 
wall, held the French back from the forest regions south 
of Lakes Erie and Ontario. 

French and English. — The English occupied less terri¬ 
tory than the French, but their colonies were closer to¬ 
gether and easier of access from Europe. There were 
two hundred thousand people on the farms and in the 
villages along the middle Atlantic coast. With the ex¬ 
ception of a few trading posts and villages in Maine, 
none of these settlements adjoined the French. 

But every year the two people were drawing nearer 
together on the northern borders and in the forest west 
of the Alleghenies. The French were pushing up the 
Ohio River. English traders and explorers were crossing 
the mountains and building huts in the wilderness; they 
began to realize that it was “inconvenient” to have 
French forts “all along from our lakes by the back of 
Virginia and Carolina to the Bay of Mexico.” 


io6 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE (1689 


King William’s War [1689-1697]. — Such was the state 
of affairs when war began. While the French and Eng¬ 
lish fought in Europe, their colonies contended in America. 
This colonial war, called from the ruling English king, 
King William’s War, lasted eight years. During it, Sir 
William Phips of Massachusetts led a force against the 
French province of Acadia, and conquered and plundered 
it, bringing away even the governor’s spoons and wigs. 

Several raids were made by Iroquois allies of the Eng¬ 
lish and by Algonquin allies of the French. The bloody 
deeds of these savages made the contest horrible. Worse 
still, the colonists sometimes imitated the savages and 
scalped their enemies or gave prisoners to Indian allies to 
burn at the stake. The Iroquois attacked Montreal and 
burned their French captives at the city wall. The 
Algonquins came down the river valleys leading like 
roads from the north, and laid English settlements waste 
with torch and tomahawk. People were surprised at 
work or awakened at night by the screeching war-whoop. 
Houses were burned, and men, women, and children were 
massacred or made prisoners. Then the savages marched 
hastily away, taking prisoners to sell or keep as slaves or 
to burn at the stake. F'eeble women and children who. 
lagged on the march were scalped; crying babies were 
snatched from their mothers’ arms and killed. Such was. 
Indian warfare. 

Suppression of piracy. — After King William's War, 
European nations united in an effort to suppress pirates. 
These were especially troublesome along the Atlantic 
coast of America. The ‘ Brothers of the Coast,’ as these 
pirates called themselves, had fleets, thousands of armed 
seamen, and islands for strongholds. They carried on a 
smuggling trade; they captured and robbed ships ; they 
even attacked and plundered towns.. 



Clairne l bgCf'iryini rienj Cat 


necticut. 


Delaware 

bay 


tilaware 
bay w, 


Ov«WJ« , S^Vjk 

Jamestown" 


JaM’estowrr 


l 3b 30 O 

ibeinarle &d. 


\hemarle Sd. 


ram 1 ic.o Sd. 


,t. Augustine 


GULF OF 


MEXICO 


b)'(- ItA\^VIAAAlA\ 


C'laimeil l.y Va. anil Vann. tU)'' Pfcij>S.V lA'Afli IA 


Claimed by Vc. f rid Conn. 


lela ware 

bay y- 


Delaware 
bay ^ 


'Jani ets 


-SC-30- 


30 'O 

arle Sd. 


'Ijernarle Sd. 


\ORTH - GAltOLl\V 


OL’TIl 


Charleston ^ 
Port Royal v 


^Tiharleston 
'Port Royal / 


Uit. Augustine 

\ Charter Colonies 
-A-£0° 

4 \ Proprietary Colonies 
j \Royal Colonies 


iSt. Augustine 


SOUTH 

ATLANTIC 

COAST 

( 1650 - 1095 ) 


GULF OF 


MEXICO 


MEXICO 


1095 


Xon g ft u3e~"WesT 


reenwlcb 















































































































































































i6g8) 


THE FRENCH-ENGLISH CONTEST 


107 


Two of the most notorious of their bold, cruel leaders 
were Captain William Kidd and Edward Teach or Thatch, 
called Blackbeard from his long, shaggy, black beard. 
Blackbeard had his head¬ 
quarters off North Carolina, 
and was a terror to the 
middle and southern coasts. 

Captain Kidd was a sea cap¬ 
tain, who was given charge 
of an armed ship to destroy 
pirates and turned pirate 
himself. He is said to have 
buried stolen treasures along 
the coast, and many people 
have searched in vain for 
his hidden wealth. Captain 
Kidd and Blackbeard were 
finally captured and put to 
death. Other pirates were 
hanged in chains, or killed 
while resisting arrest, or 
driven from their island strongholds. After some years, 
the sea-thieves were suppressed and coast travel was made 
safe. 

Queen Anne’s War [1702-1713]. — Peace between the 
French and English lasted only a few years. Then began 
the war called in the colonies Queen Anne’s War, from 
the ruling English sovereign. It lasted twelve years. 

Again the torches and tomahawks of the Indians 
carried terror to the northern settlements. The colonists 
attacked the savages in turn; but, as a watchful governor 
remarked, to pursue Indians in the forests was as useless 
“ as to pursue birds that are on the wing.” 

A French and Spanish expedition sailed to South 



Blackbeard 










io8 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1710 


Carolina, but Charleston, though stricken by yellow fever, 
made a gallant defense and beat off the fleet. 

The most important victory of the war was in the 
north. The New Englanders retook Acadia, which had 
been taken in King William’s War and restored by treaty 
to the French. This time it remained in British hands; 
henceforth, it was called Nova Scotia. 

Summary [1689-1713]. —The French occupied Canada and pressed 
westward and southward, along the lakes and rivers. The Mississippi 
was partly explored by Marquette and Joliet, and was followed to its 
mouth by Robert de la Salle; he took possession, in the name of the 
French king, of the great central valley which he called Louisiana. 
Near the end of the seventeenth century, there began the great French 
and British struggle for the possession of North America. It commenced 
with the eight-years’ war, called by the colonists King William’s War. 
The chief events of this war were Indian raids and the British conquest 
of Acadia. Four years after King William’s War ended, Queen Anne’s 
War began. It lasted twelve years. During it, there were Indian raids, 
and Acadia, which had been restored to the French, was retaken. 


2. The Settlement of Georgia and 
King George’s War 

Growth of French power. — After Queen Anne’s War, 
there was a thirty-years’ peace between France and Great 
Britain. France made use of the time to strengthen its 
hold on America. By the middle of the eighteenth century, 
it had a series of forts from Montreal to New Orleans. 
These forts were built on commanding sites along the 
rivers and the lakes. 

No difficulties kept back the French. The region about 
the mouth of the Mississippi was a swamp, subject to 
overflow, covered with a rank growth of cypress and 
willows, but the French resolved to establish a settle¬ 
ment to control the entrance to the great river. Pioneers 


THE FRENCH-ENGLISH CONTEST 


1718] 


109 


cleared away the jungle, dug ditches, made embankments, 
and built a fort and some log cabins. They called this 
settlement New Orleans. In ten years, it had 1600 in- 



An Early Picture of New Orleans 


habitants, nearly all of whom were men. To make homes 
in the wilderness, the French king sent a shipload of 
young women who became colonists’ wives. 

Indian wars. — The end of Queen Anne’s War did not 
bring peace to the British colonies. The North Carolina 
settlements were attacked by the fierce Tuscarora Indians. 
The savages were overcome by the aid of South Carolina 
which sent a little army through the wilderness to aid her 
hard-pressed neighbor. The conquered Tuscaroras went 
to New York and joined the kindred Iroquois tribes; 
henceforth the confederacy was the Six Nations instead of 
the Five Nations. A few months later, the Muskhogean 
tribes of the Carolinas went on the warpath. A year 
passed, many homes and settlements were destroyed, and 
four hundred colonists were killed before the Indians were 
subdued. 

Governor Spotswood’s explorations. — While this Indian 
war was going on, the Virginia mountains were explored 
by Governor Alexander Spotswood, accompanied by a 
band of gallant gentlemen. They ascended a summit of 
the Blue Ridge, and beheld the fair country west of the 













no 


SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1716 


mountains. Governor Spotswood urged the home govern¬ 
ment to establish a chain of forts beyond the mountains, 
in order to keep back the French from this territory; but 
his advice was unheeded. 

Colonial growth. —In spite of their Indian, French, and 
Spanish enemies, the British colonies grew and prospered. 
East and West Jersey were united and formed the royal 
province of New Jersey [1702]. Delaware was separated 
from Pennsylvania and given an assembly of its own. 
The King bought the rights of the lords proprietors 
[1729] and Carolina became two royal colonies, North 
and South Carolina. Their beginnings had been distinct 
and there had been little real connection for years before 


their political separation. 
A new colony was estab¬ 
lished, last of the origi¬ 
nal thirteen. This was 
Georgia, so called in 
honor of George II., the 
ruling king of Great 
Britain. 



Oglethorpe and his col¬ 
ony. — Georgia was the 
first great charity in the 
New World; its territory 
was given to proprietors 
“in trust for the poor.” 
The colony was founded 
by General James Ogle¬ 
thorpe, a noble-minded, 


James Oglethorpe 


charitable Englishman, as a refuge for poor, unfortunate 
people, especially poor debtors. 

At that time, debt was punished as a crime. If a 
man owed even a few pennies, he could be put into jail 


17331 


THE FRENCH-ENGLISH CONTEST 


hi 


and kept there till his debt was paid or till he died. All 
prisoners — debtors, thieves, and murderers — were herded 
together in filthy, disease-infested places. They suffered 
for lack of food and clothing. Sometimes smallpox or 
some other disease destroyed almost all the occupants 
of a prison. A colony where poor men could make a 
fresh start would be a benefit to the country and to indi¬ 
viduals. Men who were a burden at home might be¬ 
come self-supporting. New industries could be developed 
and British trade built up. General Oglethorpe planned 
that the colony should be a military one, occupying the 
region between South Carolina and Florida, to hold it 
against the Spaniards of Florida and against the French 
who were taking possession of the Mississippi Valley. 

Government of Georgia.—There were three rules laid 
down for Georgia : first, it was to have religious freedom ; 
second, negro slavery was forbidden; third, rum was not 
to be brought into the colony. The colonists were selected 
with as much care as possible. They were drilled as 
soldiers, and were supplied with powder, shot, and guns as 
duly as with plows and seeds. The first settlement was 
made at Savannah on the broad stream bearing that name 
[1733]. General Oglethorpe was the first governor; the 
religious leaders were John and Charles Wesley, and 
later George Whitfield, three famous English clergymen, 
the founders of the Methodist church. 

Industries of Georgia and South Carolina. — General 
Oglethorpe wished to make the production of silk the chief 
industry of the new colony. Silkworms were brought over, 
mulberry trees were planted, and some silk was produced. 
The first silk taken from Georgia to England was made 
into a dress for the queen. The industry did not flourish, 
however, and others took its place. Rice become a staple 
crop, and after a while negro slaves were used as laborers. 


11 2 


SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1741 


Meanwhile, the cultivation of indigo was begun in South 
Carolina. A young lady, Miss Eliza Lucas, planted on 
her father’s farm indigo seeds brought from the West 
Indies. The first crops were destroyed by frost and by 
worms, but Miss Lucas persevered, and finally a good crop 
was raised. Indigo and rice thrived on the swampy coast, 
and for over half a century they were the staple crops of 
South Carolina. 

Georgia attacked by Spaniards. —War with Spain broke 
out when the Georgia colony was only six years old. 
The Spaniards attacked one of its settlements, and General 
Oglethorpe marched a little army against St. Augustine, 
but was unable to take its fort. Two years later, the 
Spaniards made a sudden attack with fifty ships and 5000 
men, intending to destroy the Georgia settlements and 
then to march against the Carolinas and Virginia. Their 
army was defeated and driven off by General Oglethorpe 
with only six hundred and fifty men. 

King George’s War [1744-1748].—While Georgia was 
fighting the Spaniards, the northern colonies were again 
fighting the French. This war of Great Britain against 
France and Spain was called in the colonies King George’s 
War, because George II. was then king. It lasted five 
years. 

The principal event was the taking of Louisburg on 
Cape Breton Island. Louisburg was a fortress that guarded 
the entrance to the Gulf of St. Lawrence and was a con¬ 
stant danger to the British fishermen visiting the New¬ 
foundland banks. The fort was surrounded by stone walls 
twenty or thirty feet high and forty feet thick; on these 
walls were posted a hundred cannon. Next to Quebec, 
it was the strongest fortress in America. The French 
boasted that women could hold it against an enemy ; but 
strong as it was, it was taken after six-weeks’ siege by a 


1748] 


THE FRENCH-ENGLISH CONTEST 


ii3 

little army of 4000 New England farmers and fisher¬ 
men, aided by four British warships. 

By the treaty at the end of the war, Louisburg was given 
back to the French in exchange for Madras, a British 
stronghold in India, which had been taken. The New 
Englanders were indignant that their conquest Louisburg, 
like Acadia, was returned to the French, and, like that, 
would have to be retaken when war broke out again. 

Summary [1713-1748]. — After Queen Anne’s War, there was a 
thirty-years’ peace. During it, the French built forts and occupied the 
country from Canada to the mouth of the Mississippi; Georgia, the 
last of the thirteen English colonies, was founded by General James 
Oglethorpe. Some years after Georgia was settled, the third war with 
the French began. King George’s War, as it was called, lasted five 
years. Its chief event was the capture of Louisburg, a strong French 
fortress, which was given back at the end of the war. 


3. The French and Indian War 

Condition of colonies. — Peace between France and 
Great Britain did not last long. A few years after King 
George's War ended, there began the Seven Years’ War, — 
or the French and Indian War, as it was called in the 
colonies. This was the fourth, greatest, and last war be¬ 
tween the French and British in America, and it settled 
finally the question of mastery in the New World. 

When this war began, there were fifteen British colonists 
to one Frenchman, but the French occupied a vast area 
protected by well-placed forts. They had 80,000 colonists, 
most of them in Canada, some along the Mississippi 
River and the Gulf of Mexico. The British had over a 
million colonists, living on farms and plantations and in 
villages and towns, along the Atlantic coast. 

The thirteen British colonies formed three groups: 
four New England colonies — New Hampshire, Massa- 


SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1753 


114 

chusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut; four middle 
colonies — New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and 
Delaware ; five southern colonies — Maryland, Virginia, 
North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. 

These colonies may be divided into three other groups, 
according to the way in which governors were chosen: 
two charter colonies — Rhode Island and Connecticut — 
elected their own governors; in three proprietary col¬ 
onies — Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Delaware — the 
governor was chosen by the proprietor; in eight royal 
colonies—Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, 
New Jersey, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and 
Georgia — the ruler was appointed by the king. In 
government, these thirteen little commonwealths were 
much alike. In them all, people claimed the right to tax 
themselves and to speak their minds about public matters. 

Ohio Valley. — The first point of conflict between the 
French and the British was the valley of the Ohio. This 
was being occupied by British colonists, chiefly thrifty 
Germans and hardy Scotch-Irish, who crossed the moun¬ 
tains to hunt, trade, and farm. About the middle of the 
eighteenth century, the Ohio Land Company was formed 
to trade with Indians and to settle the country west of the 
Alleghenies. This company obtained a large grant of 
land and established trading posts on the Ohio River. 

The French also claimed the Ohio Valley. It was the 
direct route between their posts on the St. Lawrence and 
their settlements on the Mississippi. They broke up the 
British trading posts, and built a log fort on the southern 
shore of Lake Erie, at the present site of Erie, and two 
forts on the upper branches of the Ohio River, one on 
French Creek and the other on Allegheny River. 

Washington goes as messenger to French. — Governor 
Dinwiddie of Virginia sent George Washington to order 


1753] THE FRENCH-ENGLISH CONTEST u 5 

the French “peaceably to depart” from this territory 
claimed by the British. Washington was only twenty-one, 
but he was a brave and capable youth. He had had a 
varied training, —in right principles by a good mother, in 
books in simple Virginia country schools, in frontier life as 



Washington’s Birthplace 


a surveyor in the wilderness, in business as administra¬ 
tor of his brother’s large estate, in arms as commander of 
the militia of eleven counties. With a few companions, he 
set forth on the long, dangerous journey of a thousand 
miles, following rivers and Indian trails through the wilder¬ 
ness to the French forts. On the return journey, the horses 
gave out, and Washington came back on foot with only one 
companion, a famous woodsman named Gist. They trav¬ 
eled up and down the mountains, crossed ice-blocked 
streams, and made their way through forests where lurked 
French and Indian foes. At last, they came home safe, with 
tidings that the French refused to give up the territory. 
It was necessary either to ‘drive them off by force of 
arms,’ or to yield the western territory. 

Conflict on Ohio [1754].— The British were resolved to 
hold the country. Governor Dinwiddie ordered a body of 


n6 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1754 

backwoodsmen to build a fort at the forks of the Ohio, 
where Pittsburg now stands. Troops were gathered and 
sent forward as promptly as possible. While a small army 
of three hundred and fifty men under command of 
Washington was marching across the mountains, French 
troops came down the Allegheny River, drove away the little 
band of Virginians, and occupied and strengthened the fort 
which they called Fort Du Quesne. 

Instead of retreating when he learned that the French 
had seized the fort, Washington went forward with his 
troops. One May day, they met a band of Frenchmen in 
the forest. There was a brief skirmish in which the Vir¬ 
ginians were victorious. They advanced and fortified a 
camp which they called P"ort Necessity. There they were 
attacked by seven hundred Frenchmen, and, after fighting 
bravely all day long, they were forced to surrender. 

This fight in the western forest was the beginning of a 
great war between the French and the British. As 
soon as news of the border conflict reached Europe, 
France and Great Britain sent troops to their colonies. 
The four points at which the French were most open to 
attack were the northeastern coast, Lake Champlain, the 
shores of the Great Lakes, and the headwaters of the 
Ohio. The British planned to attack them at all these 
points. 

Braddock’s defeat [July 7, 1755].-—The troops to attack 
Fort Du Quesne were led by Major General Edward Brad- 
dock, the British commander. General Braddock was brave 
and able, but self-willed and ignorant of Indian warfare. The 
Americans warned him that the savages would lurk behind 
shelter and would make sudden fierce attacks at favorable 
times and places. But the British general refused to adapt 
his methods to those of his savage foes. He sent his ax- 
men ahead to cut a road through the forest to Fort Du 


THE FRENCH-ENGLISH CONTEST 


117 


1755) 

Quesne, a hundred and thirty miles away. Over this road, 
he marched his army with drums beating, flags flying, and 
men in bright uniforms and close, orderly ranks, as if he 
were on a battle field in Europe. 

Marching thus, his army came to a ravine in the 
forest, only eight miles from Fort Du Quesne. There it 
was attacked by a small band of French and Indians. 
The Virginia soldiers hid behind trees and fought the 
Indians in their own fashion. General Braddock called 
the colonists cowards. Openly and fearlessly he put 
himself at the head of his regular troops drawn up in line 
of battle. Their red coats were marks for the fire of their 
hidden foes, and they were shot down without being able 
to strike a blow in return. At last they broke ranks and 
‘ran like sheep pursued by dogs.’ Brave, foolish General 
Braddock received his death wound, and nearly all the 
subordinate officers were killed or wounded. 

Colonel George Washington said, “ I had four bullets 
through my coat and two horses shot under me, yet es¬ 
caped unhurt although death was leveling my companions 
on every side of me.” 

In the face of many difficulties, he conducted home the 
shattered remnant of an army. The borders now lay open 
to the French and Indians. Hundreds of persons were 
butchered, and settlements were laid waste. The colonists 
met savagery with savagery. Even Pennsylvania the 
peaceful put a price on the scalps of Indians, — men, 
women, and children. 

Removal of French from Acadia. — Braddock’s papers 
taken in the rout made known the British plans of attack 
and enabled the French to defeat them. The colonists 
feared that the French would attempt to take their old 
province of Acadia, and that they would be aided by the 
people who were French by race and at heart. Therefore, 


n 8 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1755 




Montcalm 

were separated; some were 

British defeats.— Dur¬ 
ing the first three years 
of the French and Indian 
War, one British defeat 
followed another. Mont¬ 
calm, the able French 
general, captured Fort 
Oswego and leveled it 
to the ground; he took 
Fort William Henry; 
with about 4000 men, 
he defended FortTicon- 
deroga against the Brit¬ 
ish general Abercrom¬ 
bie, with 15,000 men. 

“ I dread to hear from 


it was resolved to re¬ 
move the Acadians from 
the country. The 6000 
men, women, and children 
were called together in 
their churches and made 
prisoners; weeping and 
praying, they were taken 
to the shore, put on board 
vessels, and distributed 
among the British colonies 
from Maine to Georgia. 
They suffered many hard¬ 
ships before they found 
new homes and means of 
living. Many families 
never reunited. 


America,” said Pitt, the 


William Pitt 







1757 ] 


THE FRENCH-ENGLISH CONTEST 


119 

great English statesman, as month after month brought 
tidings of failure and defeat. 

British victories. — At last Pitt was made war minister, 
and under him ‘ a war of failure and defeat was changed 
into a war of victories.’ An army of 50,000 soldiers was 
organized; half were British ‘regulars,’ or trained troops, 
and the other half were ‘ provincials,’ troops raised 
by the colonies. Great Britain furnished most of the 
arms, ammunition, and generals. The ablest of the 
officers sent over was Gen¬ 
eral James Wolfe, a young 
Englishman with a daring, 
determined spirit in a 
feeble, sickly body. Gen¬ 
erals Wolfe and Amherst 
led an attack on Louisburg, 
the great French strong¬ 
hold. Bravely defended 
though it was, it had to 
surrender, and its great 
walls were leveled to the 
ground. Fort Oswego was 
retaken, and the French 
were forced to abandon 
Fort Du Quesne. The 
British rebuilt and garri¬ 
soned it, calling it Fort Pitt in honor of the great states¬ 
man ; the city of Pittsburg now occupies its site. The 
year after Fort Du Quesne was taken, Forts Niagara and 
Ticonderoga surrendered to the British. 

Montcalm lacked soldiers, money, military stores, and 
provisions. He appealed to the home government for aid, 
but he appealed in vain. France could not send soldiers to 
the colony. She was busy fightingat home, and, moreover, 
the seas were controlled by British warships. 




120 


SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1759 



flll.AMS ENb. co. # N.Y. 


Capture of Quebec [Sept. 13, 1759]. — Montcalm col¬ 
lected his forces, 14,000 disorderly troops, at Quebec. This 
city is situated on a bluff overlooking the St. Lawrence 
River. There are steep cliffs along the river several miles 

above the city and a 
high ridge extends six 
miles below it. North 
of the city was a level 
space called the Plains 
of Abraham, defended 
on the river side by a 
precipice. 

In 1759, Wolfe besieged 
the French stronghold. P"or 
three months, it held out against 
him. The long ice-bound northern 
winter was approaching; if he did not 
take Quebec soon, he would be forced 
to give up the siege and return to the colonies. He re¬ 
solved to make a last desperate effort to take the city. 
Dividing his army, he left half to threaten attack below 
Quebec; the other half was conveyed up the river. At 
night the troops floated down the stream and landed a 
mile above Quebec at the foot of a steep bluff; there was, 
as Wolfe had learned, a path going zigzag up this two 
hundred feet of bushy precipice. The British climbed up 
the bluff; when day dawned, about 5000 men were drawn 
up in line of battle on the Plains of Abraham. In the 
fight that followed, ‘Wolfe lost his life, but won Quebec 
and Canada for Great Britain.’ 

As he lay wounded, he heard the cry, “ They fly! they 
fly! ” 

“ Who fly ? ” he asked. 

“The French,” was the answer. 


Quebec and Vicinity 














The Death of General Wolfe 










































































122 


SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1759 


He gave some final orders and then said : “ Now God be 
praised. I die in peace,” and died with the shouts of vic¬ 
tory in his ears. 

Brave Montcalm, too, was mortally wounded. When 
told that he could live only a few hours, he said, “ Thank 
God ! I shall not live to see the surrender of Quebec.” 

The next year, Montreal yielded and all Canada was in 
the hands of the British. 

Treaty of peace [1763]. — By the treaty of peace, France 
ceded to Great Britain all her possessions east of the Mis¬ 
sissippi, except a few island fishing-stations. She had 
already ceded to Spain New Orleans and Louisiana, the 
great unexplored region from the Mississippi River to the 
Rocky Mountains. Thus in two years France lost all her 
possessions in the New World. To-day the French names 
of Montreal, Quebec, St. Louis, New Orleans, and other 
places from the mouth of the St. Lawrence to the mouth of 
the Mississippi, remind us of the nation which settled that 
great region. By the treaty at the end of the French and 
Indian War, Spain yielded Florida to Great Britain ; twenty 
years later, it was ceded back. 

Results of war. — By the French and Indian War, the 
British colonies were freed from a dangerous neighbor 
and their Indian enemies were deprived of a powerful ally. 
The colonists were drawn together in a common cause and 
gained military training. There was soon to be a great 
contest in which this training was to prove valuable. Some 
people foresaw the coming contest. A shrewd Frenchman 
said: “ England will erelong repent of having removed 
the only check [the French power] that could keep her 
colonies in awe. They no longer stand in need of her 
protection. She will call on them to contribute toward 
supporting the burdens they have helped to bring upon 
her, and they will answer by shaking off all dependence.” 


140 J „ 120° 110° l*W> 9Q? y()« 7 0 6 60° 





***vv \^rvr^- 

S©®*' &*' 


Vi" '•>. ' 

d*Ct£ y 






















































CHAPTER IV 


FROM COLONIES TO STATES 
i. Colonial Discontent 

Some causes of colonial discontent. — The end of the 
French and Indian War found the colonists loyal, but 
growing discontented. They disliked their royal govern¬ 
ors and the Trade and Navigation Acts. 

When the colonies were young and most of the people 
were Englishmen or the children of Englishmen, a gov¬ 
ernor from the mother country seemed one of themselves. 
Now, when most of the colonists were American born, 
governors from Great Britain seemed outsiders. Some of 
these governors were popular because they were wise and 
capable men, considerate of the colonists’ rights; gov¬ 
ernors who were harsh and overbearing were disobeyed 
or driven from office. Usually, the people had their way 
without an open outbreak. The governor had power to 
veto the laws passed by the assembly, but it alone had 
power to lay taxes. If he refused to sign the laws that it 
passed, it in turn refused to vote money for his salary; 
this usually brought him to terms. 

The chief cause of colonial dissatisfaction was the Trade 
and Navigation Acts. It was agreed that Great Britain 
had a right to regulate commerce and to shut out foreign 
nations from free trade with the colonies; she was 
entitled to this for protecting them and for guarding 

124 


FROM COLONIES TO STATES 


125 


1761] 

their merchant ships with her navy. But the trade laws 
were very strict; and year by year they became stricter. 
The colonists were required to limit their commerce almost 
entirely to Great Britain. They were not even allowed to 
trade freely with one another. Manufactures were for¬ 
bidden ; they “ had not the right to manufacture so much 
as a nail for a horseshoe.” It must not be forgotten, how¬ 
ever, that Great Britain tried to help the colonies by paying 
bounties on some American products and by doing other 
things to build up their trade. 

As time passed and industries increased, the colonists 
more and more evaded and disobeyed the unpopular trade 
laws. Goods were smuggled to and from every port. 
Hundreds of New England vessels were busy with the 
forbidden coast trade. 

To aid in enforcing the Acts, the king’s officers in Massa¬ 
chusetts were given Writs of Assistance. These were 
warrants giving the king’s officers permission to search 
any house at any time for smuggled goods. They dif¬ 
fered from regular search warrants in an important partic¬ 
ular : instead of giving the name of a suspected person, 
a warrant was left blank; a custom-house officer could 
fill in any name he chose and search any man’s prem¬ 
ises. 

Otis’s protest.—James Otis was the king’s lawyer in 
Massachusetts, and as such, it was his place to support the 
Writs of Assistance. He thought that they were unjust and 
oppressive, and so he gave up his office and did all that he 
could against them. He made a famous speech on the 
subject; it was five hours long and as eloquent and patriotic 
as it was long. But in spite of the opposition of Otis and 
others, Writs of Assistance were granted, officers entered 
dwellings and warehouses by force, and much ill feeling 
was caused. 


CHAPTER IV 


FROM COLONIES TO STATES 
i. Colonial Discontent 

Some causes of colonial discontent. — The end of the 
French and Indian War found the colonists loyal, but 
growing discontented. They disliked their royal govern¬ 
ors and the Trade and Navigation Acts. 

When the colonies were young and most of the people 
were Englishmen or the children of Englishmen, a gov¬ 
ernor from the mother country seemed one of themselves. 
Now, when most of the colonists were American born, 
governors from Great Britain seemed outsiders. Some of 
these governors were popular because they were wise and 
capable men, considerate of the colonists’ rights; gov¬ 
ernors who were harsh and overbearing were disobeyed 
or driven from office. Usually, the people had their way 
without an open outbreak. The governor had power to 
veto the laws passed by the assembly, but it alone had 
power to lay taxes. If he refused to sign the laws that it 
passed, it in turn refused to vote money for his salary; 
this usually brought him to terms. 

The chief cause of colonial dissatisfaction was the Trade 
and Navigation Acts. It was agreed that Great Britain 
had a right to regulate commerce and to shut out foreign 
nations from free trade with the colonies; she was 
entitled to this for protecting them and for guarding 

124 


FROM COLONIES TO STATES 


125 


1761] 

their merchant ships with her navy. But the trade laws 
were very strict; and year by year they became stricter. 
The colonists were required to limit their commerce almost 
entirely to Great Britain. They were not even allowed to 
trade freely with one another. Manufactures were for¬ 
bidden ; they “ had not the right to manufacture so much 
as a nail for a horseshoe.” It must not be forgotten, how¬ 
ever, that Great Britain tried to help the colonies by paying 
bounties on some American products and by doing other 
things to build up their trade. 

As time passed and industries increased, the colonists 
more and more evaded and disobeyed the unpopular trade 
laws. Goods were smuggled to and from every port. 
Hundreds of New England vessels were busy with the 
forbidden coast trade. 

To aid in enforcing the Acts, the king’s officers in Massa¬ 
chusetts were given Writs of Assistance. These were 
warrants giving the king’s officers permission to search 
any house at any time for smuggled goods. They dif¬ 
fered from regular search warrants in an important partic¬ 
ular : instead of giving the name of a suspected person, 
a warrant was left blank ; a custom-house officer could 
fill in any name he chose and search any man’s prem¬ 
ises. 

Otis’s protest.—James Otis was the king’s lawyer in 
Massachusetts, and as such, it was his place to support the 
Writs of Assistance. He thought that they were unjust and 
oppressive, and so he gave up his office and did all that he 
could against them. He made a famous speech on the 
subject; it was five hours long and as eloquent and patriotic 
as it was long. But in spite of the opposition of Otis and 
others, Writs of Assistance were granted, officers entered 
dwellings and warehouses by force, and much ill feeling 
was caused. 


126 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1764 


Revenue bills. — A few years later, the colonists were 
given a new and more serious cause of discontent. 

The French and Indian War had left Great Britain with 
an enormous debt. It had also greatly increased the ex¬ 
penses of government; it was necessary to build forts and 
keep soldiers in America in order to defend it against 
French and Spanish attacks and against Indian risings, 
such as Pontiac’s War. How was the money for these 
purposes to be raised ? The British government thought 
that the colonies ought to pay part of the expenses against 
the enemies on their borders. 

The colonies agreed that it was just they should pay 
a share of these expenses. They thought that the needed 
funds ought to be raised by means of taxes laid by their 
own assemblies. The assemblies, however, were slow to 
act, and so the British government took matters in its 
own hands. It made the strict trade laws even stricter 

and passed a Sugar Act 
[1764], laying heavy du¬ 
ties on sugar, molasses, 
etc., brought into the 
colonies. This Sugar 
Act was a great hard¬ 
ship to New England 
traders and was vigor¬ 
ously opposed by them. 

Samuel Adams. — In 
Massachusetts, this op¬ 
position was led by 
Samuel Adams. Adams 
was a shrewd political 
leader ; he perfected the 
caucus, by which a group of citizens voted and worked 
together so as to control the action of a public meeting. 



Samuel Adams 



1765] 


FROM COLONIES TO STATES 


127 


“If taxes are laid upon us in any shape,” Adams wrote, 
“ without our having a legal representation whefe they are 
laid, are we not reduced from the character of Free Subjects 
to the miserable state of tributary Slaves ? We claim Brit¬ 
ish rights not by charter only. We are born to them ! ” 

Stamp Act. — The British government did not stop with 
strict trade laws; it went further, and for the first time it 
laid a direct tax on the colonies. 

This tax, called the Stamp Act, required a stamp on 
deeds, contracts, and other business papers, and on all 
newspapers and other publi¬ 
cations [1765]. The money 
raised by it was to be used 
in payment of the war debt. 

Great Britain was using a 
stamp tax and the colonies 
also had used it, for it was 
easy to collect. But a storm 
of angry protest rose from 
the colonies against this particular Stamp Act. They ob¬ 
jected, not to the amount nor to the form of the tax, but 
to the fact that it was imposed by Parliament and not by 
their own assemblies. They declared that it was “ against 
the rights of Englishmen to be taxed save by their repre¬ 
sentatives.” 

Patrick Henry. — The House of Burgesses was in session 
when the Act reached Virginia, with the information that 
it was to be enforced in November. Most of the members 
of the House were stately gentlemen in silk knee breeches 
and velvet coats, with curled and powdered wigs. Among 
them was a country lawyer, dressed in simple clothes and 
wearing his own plain hair. This was Patrick Henry, ‘the 
trumpet of the Revolution.’ He proposed resolutions de¬ 
claring that the people of the colonies had all the rights of 



Stamp Act Stamps 






128 


SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1765 



their fellow-countrymen in Great Britain; that only the 
assembly in which they were represented had a right to 
lay taxes on Virginians, and they were not bound to obey 
any law to the contrary. A heated discussion followed. 
Henry asserted that the Stamp Act was an act of tyranny 
on the part of the king; then he mentioned rulers who had 
been charged with tyranny and put to death. 

“ Caesar had 
his Brutus,” 
he exclaimed, 
“ Charles I. his 
Cromwell, and 
George III. — ” 
“Treason! 
treason! ” inter¬ 
rupted several 
gentlemen. 

“ May profit 
by their exam¬ 
ple,” cried Hen¬ 
ry. “ If this be 
treason, make 
the most of it.” 

Henry’s reso¬ 
lutions were 
adopted. “Vir¬ 
ginia rang the 
alarm bell,” and 
the other colonies responded promptly. “No taxation 
without representation ” became the watchword of the 
liberty-loving people. 

Stamp Act Congress. — At the suggestion of Massachu¬ 
setts, the colonies sent delegates to New York to a meeting 
called the Stamp Act Congress. This Congress drew up 


Patrick Henry’s Speech 






1765] 


FROM COLONIES TO STATES 


129 


papers asking the home government to repeal the Stamp 
Act and declaring that only their own assemblies had the 
right to tax the colonies. 

How Stamp Act was received. — The first of Novem¬ 
ber, 1765, the day on which the Act was to go into effect, 


The TIMES are 

€>reabful, 
iDifmal 
doleful 
jDoloious. and 
Dolla*-le»s 



NUMB. iu 


Thurfday, OOtbrr 31. 1765. 

[PENNSYLVANIA JOURNAL; 


WEEKLY ADVERTISER. 


EXPIRING; In Hopes ot' a RdurreUion to Like again 


Irvec) ihc I 


.fyl lorry (o be. obliged | 
to acquaint my Head¬ 
er* lhat as TheS’TAMP- 
Act. isfear’d to be ob 
ligatory upon u» after j 
thefirjlif Nntmb*r cn- 
luutg, (the/iibd^c m*r. 
ubhlherof this Paper unable to 


I bear the Burthen, has thought itexpcdientl 
to «ror awhile, inorder todclibciatc,whr 
ther any Methods can be found to elude the| 
Cliams forged for (is, and cfcape the infup- 
portable Slavery j which it is hoped, from' 
thelu/l Heprcfentations now made againA 
IhalAA. may be effefled Mean while,: 
I mult earneAIy Requeft every Individual 


■»r my Subfcribers many of whom have | 
Ibeen long behind Hand, that they would 
(immediately Difchargc their refpective Ai '■ 
Irer* that 1 may be able, not only to I 
Ifupport niylelf dining the Interval, bull 
|be better prepared to proceed again with I 
Ithis Paper, whenever an opening for (hot [ 
li’urpole appears, which 1 Imjx-, will be J 

Ifoou WILLIAM BRADFORD. 


The Title-page of the Pennsylvania Journal, October 31, 1765 


was a notable day in the colonies. Some people spent it 
in fasting and prayer; some spent it in riot and violence, 
destroying property and burning king’s officers in effigy, 
but none spent it in obeying the Act. The stamps were 
burned or returned to Great Britain, and people carried 
on business without them. 

Many people in Great Britain approved the course of 
America. Pitt said that the colonists were right to resist 
the Stamp Act because it was an unjust law and ought 
not to have been passed; he said that Parliament had a 
right to make laws about trade, but not to lay a direct tax 

K 







130 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [176s 



on the people, “ taking their money out of their pockets 
without their consent.” 

“ You have no right to tax America,” he said in Parlia¬ 
ment. “ I rejoice that she has resisted.” 

Burke, the famous Irish statesman, said that even if 
Parliament had a right to pass such a law, it would be fool¬ 
ish to alienate 3,000,000 people for a small increase of 
revenue. 

The protest against the Stamp Act was so great that 
it was repealed the next spring. But Parliament still 
persisted in declaring that it had a right to tax the Ameri¬ 
can colonies. 

British government. — This Parliament expressed the 

views, not of the 
great, free, liberty- 
loving English peo¬ 
ple as a whole, but 
of the king and a 
group of his minis¬ 
ters. Let us see 
how this was. The 
British House of 
Commons, like our 
House of Represen¬ 
tatives, is composed 
of members elected 
from different parts 
of the country ac¬ 
cording to popula¬ 
tion,— one for every 
so many thousand 
George III. people. Now, tO 

keep representation 
right, changes must be made in it according to the changes 




1766] 


FROM COLONIES TO STATES 


I 3 i 


in population. Our country has a census taken every ten 
years, and by this is determined the number of representa¬ 
tives in Congress. 

In George III.’s time, there had been no change of 
Parliament membership according to the census for over 
two hundred years. In some districts, population had in¬ 
creased ; large cities, such as Manchester and Birmingham, 
had grown up, and these had no representatives. In 
some districts, population had decreased; only a few 
voters were left, but they still had representatives. The 
national assembly, in which the people were not fairly 
represented, was controlled by the king — narrow-minded, 
stubborn, stupid George III. — and his ‘friends.’ His 
mother’s constant advice to him had been, “George, be 
king ” ; he was trying to “ be king’’ and rule by his own 
will at home and in the colonies. 

Tax on glass, etc. [1767].—The year after the Stamp 
Act was repealed, another tax was laid on the colonies. 
This was a tax on glass, tea, paper, paint, and certain 
other things ; its proceeds were to be used to pay the sal¬ 
aries of officers in America. The people objected to this. 
They wished to pay these salaries through their assemblies 
as they had always done, so as to keep the officers respon¬ 
sible to them. The tax caused such dissatisfaction in 
Massachusetts that two regiments of soldiers were sent to 
Boston, to aid in enforcing the laws. For the most part, 
the colonists did not disobey the law, and yet they destroyed 
its effect. They stopped using taxed articles and other 
goods imported from Great Britain. Trade was almost at 
a standstill, and British merchants begged to have the tax 
removed. At last this was done; only one tax was re¬ 
tained, that on tea. 

“ There must be one tax to keep up the right,” said the 
king. 


i3 2 


SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1770 


‘Boston Massacre/ — A month before this change was 
made, an incident happened which showed the people’s 
feelings. One evening, a mob followed the British troops 
along the streets of Boston, abusing them and pelting 
them with stones and snowballs. At last some angry 
soldiers fired without orders, killing and wounding several 
persons. The day after this street fight, some Boston 
freemen, with Samuel Adams as spokesman, went to the 
royal governor and in the name of the people demanded 
that the soldiers be withdrawn from Boston. To avoid 
trouble, the governor sent the troops to an island in the 
bay. 

Battle of Alamance [1771]. — In North Carolina, the 
next year, dissatisfaction broke out in open rebellion. Dis¬ 
satisfied colonists organized in bands called Regulators, 
demanded better government, and refused to pay oppres¬ 
sive taxes. “No reforms, no money,” they said. Near 
the Alamance River, a battle was fought between these 
Regulators and troops led by Governor William Tryon. 
The Regulators fought bravely until their ammunition gave 
out, and then retreated. 

Gaspee burned [1772]. — Rhode Island, too, was rebel¬ 
lious. A British vessel, the Gaspee, stationed off the coast 
to catch smugglers, was burned by a mob. The home gov¬ 
ernment ordered that all who took part in the affair should 
be arrested and sent to England for trial, but not a man 
was arrested. 

Committees of Correspondence.—Towns, colonies, and 
sections were drawing together in the common cause. 
Samuel Adams suggested that the townships in Massa¬ 
chusetts form Committees of Correspondence, to “ state, 
communicate, and publish the rights of the colonists.” 
At the suggestion of Virginia, intercolonial Committees of 
Correspondence were formed [1773] to exchange views 


1773 ] 


FROM COLONIES TO STATES 


133 


and discuss matters of general interest. These intercolo¬ 
nial committees, uniting the colonies in a common cause, 
were the first great step toward Union. 

Tea tax. — As has been said, the king retained the tax 
on tea in order to carry his point that Parliament had a 
right to tax the colonies. A trading association, the East 
India Company, had been granted the exclusive right to 
bring tea to Great Britain ; from British ports, it was 
reshipped to America. Now the East India Company 
was given permission to send tea to America without pay¬ 
ing the usual British duty, so that even with the three¬ 
pence tax, it would be cheaper there than in Great Britain. 
It was thought that there would be a ready sale for it on 
these terms, and tea ships were sent to four cities — 
Charleston, Philadelphia, New York, and Boston. But 
the colonists were contending, not for cheap tea, but for a 
principle. 

At Charleston, the tea was stored in cellars and not a 
pound was sold. The ships were sent back from Phila¬ 
delphia and New York without being allowed to land their 
cargoes. In Boston, the tea was thrown overboard one 
night by a band of men disguised as Indians ; this is called 
4 the Boston Tea Party.’ 

Boston Port Bill [1774]. — Instead of making terms with 
the colonies, stubborn, foolish King George pressed severe 
measures, especially against Boston. The charter of 
Massachusetts was suspended. General Gage, who lacked 
patience, tact, and good judgment where all were needed, 
was made military governor. The Boston Port Bill was 
passed, closing that harbor to all business till pardon 
should be asked and payment made for the destroyed tea. 

In those days, news came slowly across the sea, travel¬ 
ing on sailing vessels which waited for favoring winds 
and often took months to make the voyage. So it hap- 


134 


SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1774 


pened that Virginia received news of the Port Bill a month 
before it reached Boston. 

The House of Burgesses held a day of fasting and prayer, 
and issued a request for a general Congress of Committees 
of Correspondence. Rhode Island, New York, and Massa¬ 
chusetts issued similar requests. The liberties of all the 
colonies were threatened, and the others were ready to 
stand by Massachusetts in the common cause. As a South 
Carolina paper said, “ One soul animates 3,000,000 brave 
Americans though extended over a long tract of 3000 
miles.” 

First Continental Congress [1774].—The Continental, 
or colonial, Congress met at Philadelphia. It was a 
notable gathering of able, earnest patriots, the picked 
men of twelve colonies. They drew up a petition to the 
king and a Declaration of Rights, and agreed that until 
their rights were granted they would not carry on trade 
with Great Britain. 

Virginia Convention [1775]. — The harsh laws were not 
withdrawn, and early the next spring the Virginia patriots 
met at Richmond to decide what they should do. Some 
suggested that they send new petitions to the king. Then 
Patrick Henry made a famous speech, urging the people 
to defend their liberties. Ten years before, he had urged 
resistance by words to the Stamp Act. In these ten years, 
the colonies had drifted and been driven far from the 
mother country. Now Patrick Henry urged resistance by 
arms. 

“ Is life so dear or peace so sweet,” he asked in well- 
known words, “ as to be purchased at the price of chains 
and slavery ? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not 
what course others may take, but as for me, give me lib¬ 
erty or give me death.” 

Minutemen. — Still hoping that the home government 



THE COLONIES AT THE OUTBREAK OP THE REVOLUTION 































































































. 

















1775 ] 


FROM COLONIES TO STATES 


135 


would regard their rights, people thought that it would be 
wise to prepare to fight. The Virginia militia was organ¬ 
ized and put under command of Colonel George Wash¬ 
ington. From Maine to Georgia, fire¬ 
arms and ammunition were collected 
and troops were organized and drilled ; 
these were called ‘minutemen’ be¬ 
cause they were to be ready to fight 
at a minute’s notice. The resolution 
of the people was evident. They 
would not obey Parliament; they 
would be taxed only by their own 
assemblies; if necessary, they would 
fight for their rights. 

Literature. — A glance at the litera¬ 
ture of the time shows its spirit. The 
colonists were not writing chiefly 
chronicles and religious discourses, as 
in earlier days. Instead, there were 
pamphlets and books about public 
affairs, — protests against the Stamp Act, arguments 
against the taxing of the Americans, inquiries into the 
rights of the colonists, and even treatises in favor of Amer¬ 
ican independence. There were patriotic poems by Philip 
Freneau, John Trumbull, and Timothy Dwight. The elo¬ 
quence of James Otis, Samuel Adams, and Patrick Henry 
was setting fire to the tinder of popular discontent. 

Western settlements. — While the thirteen colonies were 
uniting against Great Britain, the settlement of the West 
was beginning. At the end of the French and Indian 
War, the British had set aside the region between the 
Appalachian Mountains and the Mississippi River as an 
Indian country; the colonists were forbidden to settle be¬ 
yond the headwaters of the streams which empty into the 



136 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [177s 


Atlantic. In spite of this decree, pioneers pressed west¬ 
ward, — traders carrying goods to exchange with Indians 
for furs, hunters and trappers seeking game, farmers 
occupying the fertile land. They made the long, toilsome, 
dangerous journey across mountain gaps and along streams. 
With their knives and rifles, they held their own, supplied 
their simple needs, and built up homes in the wilderness. 
Pioneers from Virginia and Maryland went to Kentucky, 
the Regulators of North Carolina settled in Tennessee, and 
people from Pennsylvania moved into the Ohio country. 

Daniel Boone. — Daniel Boone was one of these western 
pioneers. Soon after the French and Indian War, he went 

from his home in North 
Carolina “ in quest of the 
country of Kentucke.” 
His brother returned for 
ammunition, and he spent 
the winter alone in the 
western wilderness. 
Later, with a few bold 
companions, he made the 

Fort Boonesboro first settlement there. 

“ Many a dark and 
cheerless night,” he said, “ have I been a companion for 
owls, separated from the cheerful society of men, scorched 
by the summer’s sun and pinched by the winter’s cold, an 
instrument ordained to settle the wilderness.” 

Summary [1761-1775].— The colonists were discontented with 
royal governors and with the Trade and Navigation Acts. Their dis¬ 
content was increased by the Writs of Assistance and by a direct tax, the 
Stamp Act. They said that, as they were not represented in Parliament, 
it had no right to tax them, for “taxation without representation 
is tyranny.” The Stamp Act was repealed, but it was followed by new 
taxes on tea, glass, etc. Finally, all the direct taxes were removed ex- 







1775] 


FROM COLONIES TO STATES 


137 


cept the one on tea. Several shiploads of tea were sent over, but the 
colonists everywhere refused to receive it. The cargo sent to Boston 
was destroyed; in punishment for this, the Boston Port Bill was 
passed, closing the town to trade. The first Continental Congress met 



at Philadelphia the year that the Port Bill was passed. While the 
colonies were contending with the home government, Daniel Boone and 
others pioneers were settling the country west of the Appalachians. 

2. The Beginning of the War of the Revolution 

Fight at Lexington [April 19]. — The spring of 1775 
brought the clash of arms in New England. The British 
general, Gage, who was in Boston with 3000 soldiers, 
learned that the colonists had collected arms and powder 






138 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [i775 


at Concord, a village twenty miles away. General Gage 
sent soldiers to seize these. In order to surprise the 
colonists, the soldiers started from Boston at midnight. 
But the patriots were warned of the British movement. 

Messengers bearing the news galloped 
from house to house, from village to 
village. Bells were rung, drums were 
beat, muskets were fired. Patriots seized 
their flintlock guns, buckled on their 
powder-horns, and shot-bags, and assem¬ 
bled in little groups here and there. 
About sunrise, the British reached Lex¬ 
ington, a village a few miles from Con¬ 
cord ; there they found sixty or seventy 
men in arms. 

“ Disperse, you rebels ! Throw down 
your arms and disperse! ” commanded 
the British officer. 

The men did not obey. The soldiers 
fired and killed seven of the little band; 
the Americans fired, too, and one British 
soldier fell dead. 

Concord fight. — The British marched on to Concord, 
destroyed all the military stores that they could find, and 
then started back to Boston. A band of patriots stationed 
themselves at Concord Bridge, shots were exchanged, and 
several men were killed on both sides. 

Rising of colonists. — Meanwhile, news of the Lex¬ 
ington fight had spread abroad, and the patriots gathered 
in haste. The clouds “ seemed to rain rebels,” said the 
British. The patriots fought Indian fashion, taking shelter 
behind houses, trees, and stone walls, picking off the soldiers 
with their rifles. The British march quickened into a re¬ 
treat, and they hurried back to Boston, leaving three hun- 



British Soldier 


1775 ] 


FROM COLONIES TO STATES 


m 



dred soldiers dead, wounded, or prisoners. The New 
England minutemen did not lay down their arms; they 
formed four little armies, that of each colony being sepa¬ 
rate, and camped near Boston. 

Powder seized in 


Virginia. — The 
night after the fight 
at Lexington, the 
royal governor of 
Virginia seized some 
gunpowder stored at 
Williamsburg. News 
was borne so slowly 
to the farms and 
plantations of the 
region that by the 
time the people as¬ 
sembled, the powder 
had been carried off 
on shipboard. A 
band of patriots, led 
by Patrick Henry, went to the governor and compelled 
him to pay the colony for it. 

Second Continental Congress. — Three weeks after 
the fighting at Lexington and Concord, Congress met. 
George Washington w^ent, dressed in his uniform of 
blue and buff, and no one needed to ask why. All felt 
that war was at hand. Congress sent new petitions to 
the king, but it also took charge of the troops assembled 
at Boston and called for forces from all the colonies to 
form a Continental army, of which it appointed Washington 
commander in chief. His experience in the Lrench and 
Indian War had prepared him for this place. Men were 
already aware of his prudence, energy, dignity ; courage, 


Old Powder-horn, Williamsburg 
This was the magazine from which the powder was removed. 





140 


SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [177$ 


and patriotic spirit; they were yet to learn his rare 
patience, self-control, self-devotion, and persistence which 
would bring victory out of defeat. In accepting the posi¬ 
tion, he declined all pay except for his bare expenses. 

Capture of Ticonderoga and Crown Point. — The colonies 
had not waited for Congress to act. The very day that it 
met, a band of Vermont backwoodsmen, called Green 
Mountain Boys, seized Fort Ticonderoga, the “gateway 
to Canada.” The next day, Crown Point was surprised 
and taken. Both forts contained valuable military stores. 
Their large guns were dragged to Boston for the use of 
the patriot army. 

Whigs and Tories. — Everywhere, people were dividing 
into two parties,—the loyalists, or Tories, who thought 
that the king’s laws ought to be obeyed, and the patriots, 
or Whigs, who were determined to assert their rights, even 
if they had to disobey these laws. The patriots were the 
more numerous, and they drove out the royal governors 
and took control of affairs. Probably a third of the people 
were loyalists. They were most numerous in New York, 
Pennsylvania, Georgia, and the Carolinas. Some of them 
were spies and men who were seeking only their own 
interest; some were upright gentlemen who loved their 
liberties, but clung to the mother country and hoped to 
get their rights by peaceful measures. The Whigs and 
Tories were very bitter against each other. Men were 
whipped, tarred and feathered, deprived of property, even 
shot or hanged by their neighbors or their own relatives 
who belonged to the opposing party. 

Troops sent to America. — The only answer that the king 
made to the petitions of Congress was to send troops to 
the colonies. In May, there landed in Boston several 
thousand soldiers, led by three experienced generals, Sir 
Henry Clinton, Sir John Burgoyne, and Sir William Howe. 


1775] 


FROM COLONIES TO STATES 


141 


Later, the king hired and sent over about 20,000 soldiers 
from Hesse and other German states. The sending of 
these Hessians made the patriots angry and more rebel¬ 
lious, as wise men knew would be the case. 

“Were I an American as I am an Englishmen,” said 
Pitt, “ while a foreign troop was landed in my country, I 
never would lay down my arms — never — never — never! ” 

Battle of Bunker Hill [June 17]. — Boston is situated on 
a peninsula in the middle of the harbor; north and south 
of it are two other peninsulas overlooking it. On the south 



are Dorchester Heights. On the north are Charlestown 
Heights, of which the part nearer Boston is called Breed’s 
Hill and that farther off is called Bunker Hill. 

The Americans resolved to occupy the heights com¬ 
manding the town on the north. Fifteen hundred patriots 
moved forward in the night to occupy Bunker Hill; they 
went on to Breed’s Hill, where they worked all night, 
building defenses of earth and of two parallel rail fences 





142 


SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1775 


with the space between filled with hay. The British were 
greatly surprised the next morning to see the little army 
on Breed’s Hill. General Howe ordered 3000 soldiers to 
cross the harbor in boats, march up the hill, and drive 
away the rebels. People crowded on the Boston housetops 
to watch the fight between the British regulars and the 
American farmers and backwoodsmen. 

“ Wait until you can see the whites of their eyes,” said 
a patriot leader to his men, when he saw the soldiers 
coming. 

The command “ Fire! ” rang out when the British were 
close at hand. The colonists fired; many of the British 
fell dead or wounded and the remainder retreated. But 
they re-formed their line and marched bravely up the hill 
again; again they were driven back by the close*, deadly fire. 
A third attack was made. The colonists’ powder was now 
exhausted, and brave General Warren had been killed. 
The patriots retreated, fighting as they went, with stones 
and the butt ends of their guns. Two British soldiers had 
fallen for every man the colonists had lost. 

Washington takes charge of army. — Four days after the 
battle of Bunker Hill, Washington started on horseback 
from Philadelphia to take charge of the troops at Boston. 
On the way, he met messengers carrying Congress news 
of the fight. 

“ Did the militia stand fire ? ” was his eager question. 
On being told that it did, he exclaimed, “ Thank God! the 
liberties of the people are safe.” If these raw troops 
could stand against the British regulars, the best soldiers 
in the world, they had the making of a good army. 

Still, his heart must have sunk as he stood under the 
great elm tree at Cambridge and looked at his army of 
16,000 men. They lacked provisions, clothing, tents, 
arms, — above all, ammunition. They were, said Washing- 


1775] 


FROM COLONIES TO STATES 


143 


ton, “ a mixed multitude of people under very little dis¬ 
cipline, order, or government”; but they were “active, 
zealous in the cause, and of unquestioned courage.” For¬ 
tunately for the colonists, the British troops lay quiet in 
Boston all that summer and fall and winter.- Washington 
made good use of the time, collecting supplies and drilling 
his troops into fighting shape. 

Summary [1775]. — As their petitions to the home government 
were disregarded, the colonists took up arms in defense of their 
rights. There were fights at Lexington and Concord and a battle at 
Bunker Hill. The second Continental Congress, which met at Phila¬ 
delphia, formed a Continental army, of which George Washington 
was made commander in chief. 

3. The Events of 1776 

American navy in 
1776.—While the 
American army 
was being drilled 
and prepared for 
service, the little 
navy was busy and 
successful. Its 
most notable officers 
were John Barry, 
an Irishman, called 
‘the father of the 
American navy,’ 
and John Paul 
Jones, a young 
Scotchman. Their 
deeds read like 
romances. Barry 



John Paul Jones 




144 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1776 


with twenty-seven men in rowboats captured a British ves¬ 
sel. He fought twenty sea battles and never once lowered 
his flag to the enemy. 

It is said that Barry was offered a large sum of money 
and the command of a frigate if he would join the British. 
He answered, “ Not the value and command of the whole 
British fleet can seduce me from the cause of my country.” 

From a six-weeks’ cruise John Paul Jones brought back 
sixty-six prizes. When he was promised another ship, he 
asked for a good one, “for I intend to go in harm’s way,” 
he said — and he generally carried out his intention. 

Most of the colonists’ sea fighting was done by privateers, 
— that is, vessels owned by private persons which were 
commissioned to attack British ships. Many sailors and 
fishermen had been thrown out of work by the war; they 
were ready to plunder British merchant vessels, thus serving 
their country and enriching themselves at the same time. 

American invasion of Canada [1776]. — During the first 
year of the war, two American expeditions invaded Can¬ 
ada. One was led by Montgomery, a brave Irishman who 
had served under Wolfe at the siege of Quebec. He cap¬ 
tured Montreal and secured much-needed provisions and am¬ 
munition. The other force, under Benedict Arnold, made 
a winter march of three hundred miles through the wilder¬ 
ness of Maine to Quebec, where it was joined by Mont¬ 
gomery’s troops. Together, they made a gallant but 
unsuccessful night attack on the city. The Americans hoped 
that the Canadians would ris£ against Great Britain, but 
they did not, and nothing was gained by the campaign. 

British evacuate Boston. — Meanwhile, the British and 
American troops at Boston lay quiet, month after month. 
Washington, having prepared his army as well as he could, 
made the first move and stationed troops on Dorchester 
Heights, which command the town on the south. 


1776) 


FROM COLONIES TO STATES 


145 


Without an attempt to take the position, the British 
evacuated Boston and sailed away to Halifax. They 
took with them hundreds of New England Tories and left 
behind arms and stores sadly needed by the Americans. 

Washington goes to New York. — General Washington 
knew that the British army would return and try to con¬ 
quer the colonies. He thought that it would probably come 
to New York City and attack that colony first, because 
its position made it more important to the British than any 
other place in America. It controlled the Hudson Valley, 
leading toward Lake Champlain, the nearest and easiest 
route to Canada. It lay like a wedge between New Eng¬ 
land and the southern colonies ; if it were in British hands, 
the colonies would be divided into two parts which could 
be attacked and conquered separately. Washington, feel¬ 
ing sure that the British would try to take this colony, 
marched his army to New York City. 

The colonies declare for independence. — Up to this time, 
the colonists had been contending for their rights as British 
subjects. They had sent petitions to the king and to Par¬ 
liament, asking that these rights be regarded. Their pe¬ 
titions had been answered by the sending of troops, and they 
had taken up arms in defense of their liberties. Patriots 
everywhere began to urge that they should fight for their 
rights as American freemen, not as British subjects. 

In the spring of 1775, the people of Mecklenburg County 
in North Carolina declared in favor of independence; the 
next spring the Congress of North Carolina directed its dele¬ 
gates in the Continental Congress to “concur” with the other 
colonies in declaring themselves free from Great Britain. 

The decisive step was taken by the Virginia Convention 
in the spring of 1776. It directed its delegates in Congress 
to “ propose ” independence and it drew up a Bill of Rights 
organizing a state government. 


146 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1776 


Patriots in other colonies took the same stand. 

Meeting of Continental Congress. — Such was the state 
of affairs when the Continental Congress met in 1776. It 
was a notable meeting. According to the instructions of 
his colony, Richard Henry Lee of Virginia made the fol¬ 
lowing motion: “Resolved, that these United Colonies 



Independence Hall 


are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States, 
that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British 
Crown, and that all political connection between them and 
the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dis¬ 
solved.” 

John Adams of Massachusetts seconded this resolution. 
It was opposed by some members of the Congress, but was 
carried. 

Declaration of Independence [July 4]. — A committee was 
appointed to draw up a Declaration of Independence. This 
was written by Thomas Jefferson of Virginia, one of the 
youngest members of Congress, but already known as one 
of the ablest. The Declaration of Independence was 
adopted on the fourth of July, 1776. A month later, the 
members of Congress signed it, knowing they were signing 








Signing the Declaration of Independen 




































































































































































i 4 8 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1776 


their death sentences if the Revolution failed and they fell 
into the king’s hands. 

At first glance, the contest seemed very unequal. On 
the one side, there was Great Britain, a powerful nation 
with the best army and navy in the world, provided with 
military stores and supplies. On the other hand, there 
were the thirteen little colonies with a population of only 
3,000,000 people, scattered along the Atlantic coast, with 
the wilderness behind and between their settlements. 
They had no regular army nor navy, no military supplies 
and no factories to provide them. But they had some 
things in their favor: they were fighting on their own 
.ground and for their rights and liberties. So they cheer¬ 
fully pulled down the leaden statues of King George III. 
and made them into bullets. 

Women’s part in the war. — The women were as brave 
and patriotic as the men. Wives urged on their husbands, 
mothers sent their sons to fight the battles of their country. 
Then the women and children set to work to care for and 
support the families. This army at home did as much for 
the cause of freedom as the army in the field. 

State governments. —The colonies, having thrown off the 
rule of Great Britain, formed governments of their own. 
The new governments were much like the old ones, except 
that the officers were elected by the people instead of 
being appointed by the king. In the states as in the colo¬ 
nies, the right to vote was limited to taxpayers and prop¬ 
erty owners. Each state was separate and independent. 

Fighting in the Carolinas. — The fighting of 1776 began 
in the South. In the winter, the North Carolina patriots 
defeated a large Tory force at Moore’s Creek. That sum¬ 
mer the South Carolinians beat off a British fleet and army 
which attacked Charleston. In expectation of the attack, 
the patriots had built a fort of palmetto logs on Sullivan’s 


1776] 


FROM COLONIES TO STATES 


149 


Island, which commands the ship entrance to the city. 
This was called Fort Moultrie, from the name of its com¬ 
mander. During the attack, a ball from a British gun 
severed the patriots’ flagstaff, and the flag fell outside the 
fort. Amid the hail of shot 
and shell, brave Sergeant 
Jasper jumped over the 
wall and rescued the flag. 

After this unsuccessful at¬ 
tack on Charleston, the 
British sailed North ; for 
more than two years, there 
was little fighting at the 
South. 

Battle of Long Island 
[August 27].— As Wash¬ 
ington had foreseen, New 
York was the main place 
of attack. The day after 
Charleston was assailed, 

British troops began to 
gather in New York Bay. 

Sir William Howe came 
from Halifax with an army 
and was joined by his brother, Admiral Lord Howe, with 
troops from England. 

To oppose this army of 30,000 regular soldiers, Wash¬ 
ington had 18,000 half-trained soldiers stationed on the 
heights of Long Island. The troops that guarded the ap¬ 
proach to the heights were defeated, and the American 
army was in danger of being surrounded. 

Washington’s retreat. — Washington secretly collected 
boats, and one foggy night in August he withdrew from 
Long Island, without losing a man or a gun. The patriots 



Jasper Monument 








150 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1776 


retired into New York, stopping to fight bravely but un¬ 
successfully at White Plains. They then turned southward 
and retreated into New Jersey. Washington ordered Gen¬ 
eral Charles Lee, who had charge of half the patriot forces, 
to join him, but General Lee withdrew his troops when 
their aid was most needed. Washington’s army, weakened 
by defeat, desertion, and illness, consisted of a few thou¬ 
sand hungry, ragged, discouraged men. As they retreated 
through New Jersey, they were followed by a strong 
army under General Cornwallis. The two armies were 
nearly always in sight of each other. Washington hardly 
dared pause until he crossed the Delaware River with his 
“wretched fragment of a broken army.” As his last 
boats crossed, the British advance guard reached the river. 
Washington, with his usual foresight, had seized all the 
boats for miles along the stream, and the British were 
unable to follow. 

“These are the times that try men’s souls,” said a pa¬ 
triot. 

The “ summer soldier and the sunshine patriot ” deserted 
the cause. The war so far had been one of failure and 
defeat. The Americans had shown skill and courage at 
the battle of Bunker Hill and in the defense of Charleston. 
But the British had gained important advantages ; they had 
made themselves masters of New York and New Jersey. 

Battle of Trenton [December 26]. — However, the year 
did not close in utter gloom. One blow was struck by Wash¬ 
ington, who when defeated could yet fight. On a cold, 
stormy winter night, he crossed the Delaware River with 
2500 picked men. Early the next morning, he attacked 
the British at Trenton ; he lost only nine men and captured 
1000 of the foreign soldiers called Hessians, besides arms 
and ammunition. He carried his prisoners across the river, 
then returned to Trenton with about 5000 men. 


1777] FROM COLONIES TO STATES 151 

Battle of Princeton [January 3, 1777]. — Against these, 
Cornwallis led a force of 8000. Washington’s position was 
dangerous. Before him was the British army; behind 
him was the Delaware River, full of floating ice. 



Washington crossing the Delaware 


“ We have run down the old fox, and we will bag him in 
the morning,” laughed Cornwallis. 

But when morning came, Washington was gone. He 
had thrown up earthworks and kindled camp fires as if he 
meant to hold his position. At midnight, he marched 
swiftly to Princeton, ten miles away, and defeated its British 
garrison ; then he withdrew to the hills at Morristown. By 
the successful attacks at Trenton and Princeton, Washing¬ 
ton had regained control of New Jersey. 

Financial affairs.—His little army was cheered, but it 
was in sad condition, suffering greatly from want of supplies. 
Washington appealed for aid to his friend Robert Morris, 
a wealthy merchant of Philadelphia. Morris devoted his 
means and his credit to the patriot cause. He set out on 
New Year’s morning, roused his friends from their morn- 




i5 2 


SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1776 


ing naps, and raised $50,000 to supply the most pressing 
needs of the army. 

Washington had asked Congress for help, but had asked 
in vain. Congress had little power and did not use that 
little well. The general government 
had no control over the states and 
no power to lay taxes. To pay 
soldiers and buy supplies, it issued 
paper money; this is merely a 
promise to pay silver or gold to the 
amount of its face value, and it is 
only as good as the government 
that issues it. The Continental 
money would be worthless if the 
Americans failed in their struggle 
for independence. Even if they 
succeeded, the general government would not be able to 
redeem its notes with coin unless the states would pay the 
money. People were not willing to sell goods for this 
Continental money nor to take it in payment of debts. 

Summary [1776]. — The chief event of 1776 was the adoption, on 
July the fourth, of the Declaration of Independence; henceforth, the 
War of the Revolution was for freedom. There was fighting in both 
the South and the North. The British were repulsed in the Carolinas 
at Moore’s Creek and Charleston. They evacuated Boston in the 
spring, and in the summer gathered in force at New York City. Wash¬ 
ington retreated from New York through New Jersey. He defeated the 
British in the battles of Trenton and Princeton, thus regaining control 
of New Jersey. Then he went into winter quarters at Morristown. 



Robert Morris 


4. The Northern and Western Campaigns of 1777-1779 

British plan in 1777. — The next British campaign was 
well planned. Its object was to conquer New York, the 
importance of which has been described. This was to be 




1777 ] 


FROM COLONIES TO STATES 


153 


done by three armies meeting at Albany. General Bur- 
goyne,. with 8000 soldiers, was to come from Canada by 
way of Lake Champlain. Colonel St. Leger, with 2000 
men, was to march down the Mohawk Valley and join Bur- 
goyne. Howe was to bring an army of 18,000 men from 
New York City up the Hudson to meet Burgoyne and St. 
Leger at Albany. This force of 33,000 men was to take 
possession of New York and cut off New England from 
the other states. 

Burgoyne’s march. — General Burgoyne started south in 
June, ascended Lake Champlain, took Fort Ticonderoga, 
and crossed over to the Hudson. His first disaster came 
at Bennington, Vermont, where a force of 1000 men sent 
to seize supplies was attacked by patriots [August 16], 
and only seventy escaped. 

Up to this time, Burgoyne had met little opposition. 
The patriot general, Philip Schuyler of New York, had too 
small an army to risk a pitched battle. All that he could 
do was to delay the British so as to give colonial troops 
time to gather. Burgoyne’s communication with Lake 
Champlain was cut off. The roads were blocked by felling 
trees and burning bridges so that his army could advance 
only about a mile a day. Meanwhile, the hardy back¬ 
woodsmen of New England were gathering to attack him. 

St. Leger’s march. — While Bur¬ 
goyne was meeting difficulties, St. 

Leger failed. He left Oswego in 
July and was joined by Tories and 
by Indians under Joseph Brant, a 
famous Mohawk war chief and 
missionary. They besieged Fort 

^ . ,, i. T , 1 D - First United States Flag 

Stanwix, on the Mohawk River, 

which was defended by about six hundred patriots. Over 
this fort was raised for the first time the Stars and Stripes, 















SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1777 


154 

the national flag adopted by Congress, The Stanwix flag 
was made of blue jackets, white shirts, and some red cloth. 

General Nicholas 
Herkimer, marching 
with a few hundred pa¬ 
triots to the aid of Fort 
Stanwix, met the British 
troops in a wooded - ra¬ 
vine. Here was fought 
the fierce drawn battle of 
Oriskany [August 6]. 
Arnold, at the head of a 
volunteer force, hurried 
to relieve the fort, send¬ 
ing before him by re¬ 
leased prisoners a report 
that the whole American 
army was on the way. 
When he reached Fort 
Stanwix, there was no 
enemy to fight. The In¬ 
dians had deserted and 
had even attacked their 
British allies; the British had been compelled to retreat. 
So ended Burgoyne’s hope of aid from that quarter. 

Howe’s advance to Philadelphia.— But where was General 
Howe with his large army and his safe and easy line of 
advance ? By a blunder, his orders to join Burgoyne did 
not reach him until late in the summer. Before they came, 
he was engaged in an expedition against Philadelphia. He 
started in June to march across New Jersey; but Wash¬ 
ington’s troops blocked the way, and he returned to New 
York, put 18,000 men on transports, and took them up Ches¬ 
apeake Bay, — thence they were to march to Philadelphia. 


































1777] 


FROM COLONIES TO STATES 


155 


Washington with 11,000 men met him at Brandywine 
Creek [September 11], where the Americans were defeated. 
Though defeated, they managed to delay Howe so that it 
took him two weeks to march the twenty-six miles to Phil¬ 
adelphia. The patriots attacked the British at German¬ 
town [October 4], but in the foggy morning they fired on 
their own men; this occasioned such confusion that they 
were defeated. 

When shrewd Dr. Benjamin Franklin, the American 
agent in Paris, was told that Howe had taken Philadelphia, 
he laughed and said, “ Philadelphia has taken Howe.” 
Indeed, the victory was as bad as a defeat. The time and 
forces spent in taking Philadelphia caused the loss of the 
northern campaign. Instead of going to the aid of Bur- 
goyne, Howe had to get troops for himself from New York. 

The two battles of Saratoga [September 19, October 7]. — 
Meanwhile, Burgoyne’s provisions were almost exhausted; 
he could neither advance nor retreat, for all the roads were 
guarded by New England troops. Every day his Indian 
and Tory allies deserted him. Every day recruits came to 
the Americans who were stationed two miles from him at 
Bemis’s Heights. 

General Schuyler had planned the campaign ably and 
had done its work well. Just as victory was in sight, Con¬ 
gress removed him and put in command General Horatio 
Gates, a vain, incapable man. 

Burgoyne made a desperate attack on Gates’s army, 
but was ably opposed by Generals Lincoln, Morgan, and 
Arnold; the battle raged all day, and when night separated 
the combatants, neither side could claim the victory. In a 
second battle, the patriots had the advantage. Gates, who 
won the credit of both battles, took no real part in either 
of them. 

Burgoyne’s surrender [October 17]. —To avoid being sur- 


156 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1777 


rounded, Burgoyne withdrew toward Saratoga. He sent 
word to Sir Henry Clinton that he could not hold out more 
than a week longer. The time passed, and no aid came; 
Clinton, indeed, had left New York with his troops and 
was on the way up the Hudson. But he had started too 
late. Burgoyne could hold out no longer, and he surren¬ 
dered his army of 6000 men. 

This victory greatly encouraged the patriots, and it sup¬ 
plied arms and ammunition which they sorely needed. It 
had other important results. For over a year, Benjamin 
Franklin had been urging France to make a treaty witji 
the colonies. It hesitated, fearing that the Americans could 
not hold their own against Great Britain and not wishing 
to espouse a losing cause. After the American victory 
over Burgoyne, France made a treaty, acknowledging the 
independence of the colonies and agreeing to furnish them 
money and a fleet. 

About the same time, the British Parliament granted all 
that the colonists had asked three years before; the tea 
tax was repealed, and it was promised that no tax should 
be laid without the people’s consent. But the Americans 
refused these terms; independence was now in sight, and 
they were resolved to win it. 

Winter at Valley Forge. — News of the French treaty 
did not reach America until the spring after Burgoyne’s 
defeat. That winter was a gloomy time for the patriots in 
the Middle States. After being defeated at Brandywine 
and at Germantown, Washington’s army went into winter 
quarters at Valley Forge near Philadelphia. The men 
were worn out with marches and defeats; they lacked 
food, clothes, blankets, and supplies of all kinds. 

Washington wrote: “To see men without clothes to 
cover their nakedness, without blankets to lie upon, with¬ 
out shoes (for want of which their marches might be traced 


1777] FROM COLONIES TO STATES 157 

by the blood from their feet), and almost as often without 
provisions as with them, marching through the frost and 
snow, and at Christmas time taking up their winter quar- 



Washington and Lafayette at Valley Forge 


ters without a house or a hut to cover them till they could 
be built, and submitting without a murmur, is a proof of 
patience and obedience which in my opinion can scarce be 
paralleled.” 

Conway Cabal. —A party, called from one of its leaders 
the Conway Cabal, wished to remove Washington and put 
Gates in charge of the army. This plan was exposed and 
aroused such general indignation that it was dropped. 

Foreigners in American service. — During the winter at 
Valley Forge, the patriots were drilled by Baron von 
Steuben. He was an able German officer, one of the for- 




158 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1777 

eigners who came over to aid the American struggle for in¬ 
dependence. Others were the brave German Baron Kalb, 


two Polish patriots, Kos¬ 
ciusko and Count Pulas¬ 
ki, and best known of all, 
the P'rench Marquis de 
Lafayette. This French 
nobleman, a youth of 
nineteen, fitted out a 
ship at his own expense, 
came to America, and 
asked Congress to allow 
him to serve without pay 
in the patriot army. He 
was wounded in the 
battle of Brandywine 
and shared the dark 
days at Valley Forge; 



Lafayette 


by his influence in his native land, he secured troops and 
supplies for the patriots. 

Evacuation of Philadelphia.—When Sir Henry Clinton, 
who had succeeded General Howe in chief command, heard 
of the French treaty, he evacuated Philadelphia, fearing 
that the French fleet would come up the Delaware and 
blockade that city. 

Battle of Monmouth [June 28, 1778].—On his march 
through New Jersey, he was attacked by the Americans, 
and a fierce battle was fought at Monmouth. General 
Charles Lee was ordered to lead an attack; instead, he 
began a retreat, and came near turning the battle into a 
defeat for the Americans. The day was saved by the 
prompt courage of Washington, Lafayette, and other pa¬ 
triots. Afterward, General Lee was dismissed from the 
army; it is now known that he was a traitor who was en¬ 
deavoring to aid the British cause. 


1773] 


FROM COLONIES TO STATES 


159 


Capture of Stony Point. — Clinton hurried on to New 
York City, followed by Washington who took up a posi¬ 
tion at White Plains. The campaign for the possession 
of the Middle States ended where it began. The British 
drove the Americans from New York; the Americans 
drove the British back to New York. Then, for nearly 
three years, the two armies remained inactive. Clinton 
lay quiet in New York City, and Washington could not 
attack him there without the aid of a fleet. Now and then, 
the British made a sudden raid to pillage and burn ; but as 
soon as the patriot army advanced, they returned to New 
York. One of the British strongholds was a fort at Stony 
Point on the Hudson. One summer night [July 15, 1779,] 
General Anthony Wayne with 1200 patriots took this fort 
by a bayonet charge and destroyed it. 

Massacres at Wyoming and Cherry valleys [1778].— 
While armies moved to and fro in the East, Tories and 
Indians waged war on the western borders. The south¬ 
western settlements were attacked, and the settlers put a 
price on Indian scalps, as on wolves’ heads. Tories, aided 
by the tribes of the Six Nations, attacked Wyoming Valley 
in Pennsylvania. They burned houses, destroyed crops, 
and massacred men, women, and children. In the fall, a 
similar attack was made on Cherry Valley in New York. 

Sullivan’s campaign [1779]. — The next summer, an 
American force under General Sullivan made a campaign 
in retaliation for these massacres. They marched through 
the forest country inhabited by the Six Nations, de¬ 
feated the Tories and Indians, burned forty villages, and 
destroyed the crops. 

Clark’s campaign. — The most important blow in the West 
was struck by a daring young Virginian, George Rogers 
Clark. With the authority of the governor of Virginia, 
he planned an expedition from ‘ the county of Kentucky ’ 


160 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1779 

against the British forts and trading posts which dotted 
the northwest territory. Clark had neither soldiers nor 

money, but he secured 
the aid of a hundred 
and eighty backwoods 
riflemen. Leaving Pitts¬ 
burg in June, these dar¬ 
ing men floated a thou¬ 
sand miles down the Ohio 
in flatboats, marched a 
hundred miles across the 
country, and without the 
loss of a man took Kas- 
kaskia and other British 
posts in the northwest. 
Most of the inhabitants 
of this country were 
French; when they 
learned that France was 
aiding the colonies, they 
willingly submitted. 

That winter, a band of British and Indians marched 
south from Detroit to 
retake the posts that 
Clark had seized. Clark 
made a wonderful winter 
march [February 7-25, 

1779] with his little 
army from Kaskaskia to 
Vincennes, across a 
hundred and forty miles 
of pathless forests and 
flooded lowlands, defeated the British, and made himself 
undisputed master of the country. 











1779] FROM COLONIES TO STATES 161 

It was due to Clark’s conquest, that when peace was 
made, the British boundary line was drawn at the Great 
Lakes, instead of the Ohio River. This region north of 
the Ohio, from the Alleghenies to the Mississippi, was or¬ 
ganized by Virginia as ‘ the county of Illinois.’ It included 
the present states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and 
Wisconsin, and part of Minnesota. 



Battle between Serapis and Bon Homme Richard 


Paul Jones. — The British controlled the seas, and little 
was accomplished by the French fleet from which so much 


M 









162 


SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1779 


had been expected. The Americans, however, made some 
brilliant sea fights. One of the most notable was by John 
Paul Jones, in Bon Homme Richard , an old merchant 
vessel refitted as a warship. Jones attacked a British frig¬ 
ate, the Serapis [September 23, 1779], lashed it to his ves¬ 
sel, and engaged in a desperate three-hours’ fight. Jones’s 
ship was on fire, riddled with shot, and seemed sinking. 
He drove his prisoners to the pumps and made them work 
for their lives. When the British captain ordered him to 
surrender, he answered, ‘ No; that if he could do no better, 
he would sink with his colors flying.’ Jones came off 
victor. The ships “ shot each other to pieces ” and both 
sank within forty-eight hours. 

Summary [1777-1779]. — The first plan of the British was to take 
New York, thus dividing the colonies into two sections to be conquered 
separately. It was planned that three armies, under Burgoyne, St. Leger, 
and Howe, should invade New York and unite at Albany. St. Leger 
was checked at Oriskany and Fort Stanwix, and forced to retreat. In¬ 
stead of going to Albany, Howe occupied Philadelphia, defeating Wash¬ 
ington’s forces at Brandywine and Germantown. After fighting the 
two battles of Saratoga, Burgoyne was forced to surrender. This suc¬ 
cess encouraged the colonists and led France to make an alliance with 
the Americans. The British evacuated Philadelphia and returned to 
New York; Washington followed and the fierce drawn battle of Mon¬ 
mouth was fought. In retaliation for Indian and Tory raids on the 
western borders, General Sullivan laid waste the country of the Six 
Nations. George Rogers Clark, aided by a few backwoodsmen, made 
a wonderful campaign in the Ohio country and conquered the northwest 
territory. 


5. The Campaign in the South 

British plans. — During the first years of the revolution, 
most of the fighting was in the North. The main object 
of the British was to occupy New York and conquer the 
colonies by sections. They failed in this. Then they 


779] 


FROM COLONIES TO STATES 


163 


changed their plans and resolved to attack and conquer 
the colonies one by one. They began with the South, 
where the population was scattered and there were many 
slaves and Tories. 

Conquest of Georgia [1778, 1779]. — The first colony 
attacked was Georgia. Savannah, defended by only six 
hundred men, was assailed by land and sea and forced to 
surrender. Georgia was overrun by British troops. 



Marion visited in Camp by a British officer 


Conquest of South Carolina [1780].— After Georgia 
was conquered South Carolina was attacked. A British 
fleet passed Fort Moultrie and attacked Charleston from 
the front, while troops made an attack from the rear. 
The city was taken, and General Lincoln’s army of 3000 
men was captured. South Carolina was overrun and 
conquered. 

Partisan bands. — The British troops were aided by 
parties of Tories, forming what were called ‘partisan 



1 64 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1780 


bands.’ The patriots, too, formed partisan bands of men 
who were not regular soldiers, but were good horsemen, 
excellent marksmen, and fearless fighters. The most 
famous of the patriot partisan leaders were Marion, called 
‘ the swamp fox,’ Sumter, ‘ the game cock,’ and Pickens. 
Their bands were not strong enough to fight pitched battles ; 
instead, they lurked in woods and swamps and made 
sudden attacks and night marches. 

Gates takes charge in South. — Having conquered Geor¬ 
gia and South Carolina, Clinton returned to New York 
with half the troops, and Cornwallis was left with the other 
half to control the South. The very month that Clinton 
sailed North, Congress appointed General Gates to com¬ 
mand the southern patriots. Gates, with the army pre¬ 
pared by Schuyler and led by Lincoln, Morgan, and 
Arnold, had won the greatest victory of the war. Many 
people regarded him as the ablest officer in the army and 
some even wished to have him replace General Washington 
as commander in chief. In the South, he was to show his 
real lack of ability. 

Battle of Camden [August 16]. — At Camden, South 
Carolina, Gates with 3000 soldiers met Cornwallis with 
2000. The raw colonial troops broke before the charge of 
the British regulars, and Gates, ‘the hero of Saratoga,’ 
led the flight. Kalb, with one-third of the army, held back 
the British and died, sword in hand. Camden was the 
worst defeat suffered by the patriots during the Revolu¬ 
tion. A British official said when he heard of the battle, 
“ We look on America as at our feet.” But it was a gen¬ 
eral and not a people that had been defeated, as was to be 
proved. 

Arnold’s treason. — These were dark days. Defeat was 
followed by treason. Benedict Arnold was an able, bril¬ 
liant officer, and he resented bitterly the fact that his ser- 


1780] 


FROM COLONIES TO STATES 


165 


vices were slighted by Congress and inferior officers were 
promoted over him. His Tory wife urged him to join the 
British army, and at last he resolved to do so. He had 
charge of West Point, an important fort which controlled 
the Hudson Valley. He agreed to give it up to the British. 
For this treason, he was to receive a large sum of money 
and be made a British general. The British sent Major 
Andre in disguise to West Point to arrange the matter. 
On the way back, Andre was stopped and searched by 
three patriots, and the papers revealing the plot were found 
in his stocking. He was hanged as a spy, but Arnold 
escaped to the British. 

“ Arnold is a traitor and has fled to the British. Whom 
can we trust now?” said Washington, and sobbed aloud, 
— the only time that he was seen to give way to grief or 
despair. 

Financial affairs. — To defeat and treason were added 
hardships caused by lack of money. The patriots obtained 




/ TPH IS BILL entitles the Bearer to i) 
receive STW& W'STty Sjurutf m/PS) l i 
0 Jil or the Value thereof^ 
in QoCd or SiPi/er, according to the Refo* ( f 
'lutions of the (B0 < W(S i Jl6 held at V 



1 775* 


0; 

$ 

<0 






some supplies and money by privateering; some funds 
were raised by the states; some money was borrowed by 
Congress from France and Holland; but all these means 





i66 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1780 


failed to supply funds needed to carry on the war. Both 
Congress and the states issued paper money which de¬ 
creased in value till it was almost worthless. A man would 
give a hundred and fifty dollars of it for one gold dollar. 
A soldier could hardly buy a bushel of wheat with a 
month’s pay. Many poor, discouraged soldiers deserted 
the patriot cause. 

Battle of King’s Mountain [October 7]. — But better 
times were at hand. A few days after Arnold’s treason 
was discovered, the patriots won a victory in the South. 
From that time, the tide turned in their favor. 

After the British overran the southern coast, Major 
Patrick Ferguson went as far as the mountains, drove off 
cattle, and plundered and burned some settlements. This 

aroused the hardy backwoods¬ 
men of the western Carolinas 
who up to this time had taken 
little part in the war. They 
gathered with their rifles and 
surrounded Ferguson’s band of 
1200 men at King’s Mountain. 
Fighting Indian-fashion from 
behind trees and rocks, they 
killed, wounded, or captured 
every man of the British force. 
Ferguson died sword in hand, 
fighting bravely. The victors 
lost only twenty-eight men; 
they disbanded and were safe in 
their mountain homes before 
troops could gather to attack 
them. 

Greene takes charge in South. — Soon after this fight, 
General Nathanael Greene of Rhode Island was sent to take 





1 


*.1 


General Nathanael Greene 









4 


1780] 


FROM COLONIES TO STATES 


167 


command of the “ shadow of an army ” in the South. It 
lacked guns, powder, and shot; the soldiers were hungry 
and ragged, often shoeless and hatless. Opposed to them 
was a well-equipped army under a skillful general. But 
the patriots had now 
able commander, 
and he was aided by 
the bold partisan lead¬ 
ers already mentioned, 

•—Marion, Sumter, 
and Pickens, — and 
by brave General 

and daring #Pff 



called 
“ Light 
Horse 
Harry.” 
Battle of 
Cowpens [Janu- 
ary 17, 1781].— 
Greene divided his 
little army. Morgan 
with nine hundred men was 
sent into South Carolina to 
take the posts held by the 
British. Reckless, boastful 
Tarleton with 1100 men pursued Morgan and was defeated 
at Cowpens, losing in killed, wounded, and prisoners, 800 
men ; the Americans lost only seventy-three men in the 
battle. Then Morgan was pursued by Cornwallis, but he 
hurried north and joined Greene, 


Greene’s Carolina Campaign 










168 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1781 


Greene’s retreat — The patriots withdrew before the 
advancing British. In order to escape, they must cross 
three rivers, — the Catawba, the Yadkin, and the Dan. 
If the British could overtake and attack the little army 
where a river cut off retreat, it could easily be defeated 
and destroyed. This Cornwallis tried to do. The patriots 
tried to keep a river between them and the enemy. The 
march thus became a race for the rivers, — a hurried 
journey through rain and snow, over muddy or frozen 
roads. The Catawba and the Yadkin were passed in 
safety ; Cornwallis hastened to the fords of the Dan, where 
he thought Greene would go, but Greene collected boats 
and crossed the river lower down. The race of two hun¬ 
dred and fifty miles was ended; the patriots were safe. 
In the vain chase, Cornwallis had sustained greater losses 
than in battle. 

“ Greene is as dangerous as Washington,” he said ; “ he 
is vigilant, enterprising, and full of resources.” 

Battle of Guilford Courthouse [March 15]. — Greene re¬ 
ceived reenforcements and then marched back to Guilford 
Courthouse, now called Greensboro in his honor. There a 
battle was fought. The militia fired and then retired in dis¬ 
order ; the regulars opened their ranks, let the militia pass, 
kept up the fight as long as they could, and finally retreated 
in good order. Though the patriots were defeated, they 
remained in control of most of North Carolina. Instead 
of returning south after the battle of Guilford Courthouse, 
Cornwallis marched north into Virginia, leaving Lord 
Rawdon in charge of the troops in the Carolinas. 

Battles of Hobkirk’s Hill [April 25] and Eutaw Springs 
[September 8]. — Greene was defeated at Hobkirk’s Hill 
and he fought a drawn battle at Eutaw Springs. 

“ We fight, get beat, rise, and fight again,” he wrote to a 
friend. 


FROM COLONIES TO STATES 


169 


1781] 

By courage and perseverance, the patriots got control of 
North and South Carolina and of Georgia. The British 
were driven to the seaports, — Savannah, Charleston, and 
Wilmington,—where they were protected by their ships. 
The South was again in the hands of the patriots. 

Summary [1779-1781]. — Failing in their plan to occupy New York 
and conquer the colonies by sections, the British resolved to attack and 
conquer them one by one, beginning at the South. Savannah was taken 
and Georgia was overrun. Charleston was taken and South Carolina 
was conquered. The only patriot forces left in the South were partisan 
bands led by Marion, Sumter, and Pickens. Gates, sent South to com¬ 
mand the patriot forces, was defeated at Camden. This was a gloomy 
time. The patriots were in sad need of money and supplies. Arnold 
turned traitor and joined the British. The patriots, however, won a 
victory at King’s Mountain. Soon after this battle, Greene took charge 
of the southern army. He made a masterly campaign, and though he 
won few victories he regained control of the South. 

6. The End of 
the War 

Cornwallis in 
Virginia. —Vir¬ 
ginia now be¬ 
came the seat of 
war. Arnold 
went there with 
a British force 
and was joined 
bv Cornwallis. 

W ashington 
sent Lafayette 
with 1200 New 
England sol¬ 
diers to aid the 
Virginians. 



Lord Cornwallis 


170 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1781 


“The boy cannot escape me,” said Cornwallis, when he 
learned how small a force the young Frenchman had. But 
the ‘ boy ’ kept out of the way skillfully until he was too 
strongly reenforced for Cornwallis to risk battle. 

Cornwallis expected Clinton to send a fleet to his aid, 
and, in order to be in reach of this, he took up a position 
at Yorktown. Up to this time, the British had controlled 
the sea. Now at last the French fleet was to do good 
service. It entered Chesapeake Bay, forced the British 
fleet which came to Cornwallis’s help to retire to New York, 
and shut in Cornwallis on the east. Lafayette’s force, in¬ 
creased to 5000 men, was on the other side. Meanwhile, 
by threatening to attack New York, Washington prevented 
Clinton’s sending aid to Cornwallis. 

Cornwallis’s surrender [October 19, 1781]. — Leaving a 
small force on the Hudson, Washington marched South 

with 6000 men so secretly 
and so rapidly that Clinton 
did not suspect his pur¬ 
pose till he had passed 
Philadelphia and pursuit 
was vain. By a hurried 
march of four hundred 
miles, he joined Lafayette. 
The patriot lines drew 
closer and closer around 
the little British army, and 
at last, in October, 1781, 
gallant Cornwallis, the 
ablest of the British com¬ 
manders in America, was 
forced to surrender. Clin¬ 
ton, with a large fleet and 
Washington’s March to Yorktown army, started from New 











The Surrender of Cornwallis 











172 


SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1781 


York to Virginia the day of the surrender. He had 
repeated the mistake of the New York campaign of 1777, 
and been too slow in giving aid to Cornwallis as to Bur- 
goyne. The result was disastrous to the British. 

Messengers galloped to Philadelphia, bearing to Con¬ 
gress tidings of Cornwallis’s surrender. The citizens were 
roused by the watchman’s cry, “Two o’clock and Corn¬ 
wallis is taken.” The next day, Congress marched to 
church and gave thanks to God for saving the country. 
After five years of hard fighting, the patriots had made 
good their Declaration of Independence and the colonies 
were in fact “free and independent states.” 

Clinton, indeed, wished to continue the war. He knew 
that the Americans were weak and had a small army of 
unpaid, ill-fed, poorly-clothed men. He told the home 
government that if it would send him 10,000 soldiers, he 
could and would conquer the colonies. But Great Britain 
was in no condition to continue the struggle. India was 
in rebellion; France, Spain, and Holland were waging war 
against her; Russia and other northern states of Europe 
were unfriendly. The 10,000 soldiers were not sent to 
America. Instead, a treaty of peace was agreed on. 

Articles of Confederation [1781].— It was with a united 
country that the treaty was made. In 1781, the states 
agreed to the Articles of Confederation proposed nearly 
four years before. By this, the thirteen states formed a 
Confederation, a “ firm league of friendship ” for common 
defense and welfare; each one preserved “ its sovereignty, 
freedom, and independence.” 

Maryland was the last state to sign the Articles of Con¬ 
federation ; fearing that the states which had western 
* back lands ’ would gain too much power and control the 
others, it refused to sign the Articles until the states which 
claimed these * back lands ’ gave them up to the Confeder- 



r a>:ies Bay 


'Lake oj 

JVooS 


dSanlt 


Montreal 


Oswe; 

mass', i 

\%r k n.v i‘/✓ 


IportstnontM 
TT iBoston 


J1 l S S A <j TT& 

\_(A \ D| -V^ kCJ_\j A)*g 

f o s :v ‘e-iu t i"c u tZU 


CONN.-lQ 


Claimed alsdTvy 
Npwv'lforkjl 


Pittsburg 


PhilaifB, 


St.JosepJ 


ivaskaskiu\ j 


R ichm ond 


"5-», Norfolk 


" fit? \i-y f- - 

ySaahville 


Raleigh 
■ A 'i 


Hattems 


’‘fine 


Savannah 


Natchez 


iQMcaH: 


St. Augustine 


TflOPIC OF CA«wt« 


ewnm/w a vv«| ii.i* 


Mr/. 


THE UNITED STATES 

At the Close of the Revolution, 

Showiu-r Western Land Claims of States. 
























































































■ 






' 
















■ 










733] 


FROM COLONIES TO STATES 


173 


ation as common property. Of the western claims, that of 
Virginia was the most important; in addition to the oldest 
charter rights to the northwest territory, it had the claim 
from Clark’s conquest. 

Treaty of Paris [1783]. — Final terms of peace were 
not agreed on until two years after Cornwallis’s surrender. 
Then Great Britain, mentioning each one by name, acknowl¬ 
edged the independence of the states. Their territory ex¬ 
tended to the Great Lakes on the north and to the Missis¬ 
sippi River on the west. Great Britain was to keep Can¬ 
ada, Spain was to have Florida and the Louisiana territory. 
After these terms were agreed on, the British troops sailed 
away from New York and the Continental army was dis¬ 
banded. 

Independence had been won by the gallant effort of all 
the states. Adams and Henry, Jefferson and Franklin, 



Lafayette and Washington at Mount Vernon 


Washington and Greene, worked side by side, shoulder to 
shoulder, for the cause of liberty. At the first, Massachu- 





i74 


SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1783 


setts bore the brunt of war; at the last, the South was the 
battle ground. Throughout the war, British and American 
troops were almost constantly in the Middle States, espe¬ 
cially New York and Pennsylvania. 

Summary [1781-1783]. — Cornwallis went north into Virginia and 
took up a position at Yorktown. There he was besieged by a French 
fleet and an army under Lafayette reenforced by Washington, and was 
forced to surrender. Cornwallis’s surrender in 1781 was the real end 
of the Revolution. That same year, the thirteen states formed a gen¬ 
eral government, a Confederation; to this the states ceded their west¬ 
ern ‘ back lands ’ as common property. By the treaty of peace, Great 
Britain acknowledged the independence of the colonies; their terri¬ 
tory extended to the Great Lakes on the north and to the Mississippi 
River on the west. Great Britain retained Canada. Florida and the 
country west of the Mississippi belonged to Spain. 


CHAPTER V 


THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC 
r. Forming a Government 

Confederation. — The states were free and independent, 
not only of Great Britain but of one another. In war they 
had united; in peace they drifted apart and acted not as 
one but as thirteen. They had different trade laws and 
taxed one another’s goods and produce; they quarreled 
about territory and boundary lines. 

The general government could not control these mat¬ 
ters. It could advise the states what to do, but it could 
not command them. The Confederation had not been 
given power to regulate trade nor to lay taxes to raise 
money for its expenses. When it needed funds, it could 
make requisitions on the states, but it could only request, 
not require, their payment. It was unable to pay its sol¬ 
diers ; it was unable to pay France and Holland even the 
interest on the money it had borrowed. 

In the peace treaty with Great Britain, the Confedera¬ 
tion promised that it would request the states to protect 
the property of Tories and to require the payment of 
debts to British merchants. The states disregarded these 
requests ; the Tories were so harshly treated that over a 
hundred thousand left the country. 

Shays’s Rebellion [1786]. — There was disorder every¬ 
where. All real power belonged to the states, and even 

175 


176 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE (1786 


the state governments were not firm. There was a 
debtors’ rebellion in Massachusetts, called Shays’s Rebel¬ 
lion from its leader, an old Revolutionary soldier. It was 
put down, but the spirit of discontent remained. 

Convention of 1787. —Thoughtful patriots saw the need 
of a government that could make and execute laws for 
the general welfare. In the spring of 1787, there was held 
in Philadelphia a meeting which was as notable as the 
famous one of 1776; it formed a new plan of government, 
and, in a large measure, decided the future of the United 
States. This convention was composed of fifty-five dele¬ 
gates from twelve states. 
Among its members were 
many notable men. Vir¬ 
ginia sent George Wash¬ 
ington and scholarly 
James Madison. From 
New York came Alexan¬ 
der Hamilton, a West 
Indian by birth, who, 
though only thirty, had 
served the patriot cause 
ably with pen and sword. 
Pennsylvania sent Ben¬ 
jamin Franklin, eighty 
years old, but still shrewd 
and energetic; with him 
came the patriot mer¬ 
chant, Robert Morris. These and other men of ability 
and experience gathered in the Quaker city in the sum¬ 
mer of 1787. Washington was made president of the con¬ 
vention. 

“ Let us raise a standard to which the wise and honest 
can repair,” he said ; “ the event is in the hand of God.” 






1787] 


THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC 


177 


Work of convention. — For many weeks, these patriots 
discussed the government of their country. They had 
been sent to “ form a more perfect union ” by chang¬ 
ing the Articles of Confederation. Their aim was, with¬ 
out interfering with the freedom of the people or the 
rights of the states, to form a strong general government. 
This was not easy to do. In the end, instead of changing 



Signing the Constitution 


the old Articles, they made a new Constitution. James 
Madison is often called ‘ the father of the Constitution * 
because he suggested its plan; this plan was modified 
according to the federal, or general, plan offered by 
Charles Pinckney of South Carolina. The Constitution, 
drawn up in 1787, is, with a few additions called amend¬ 
ments, the law by which we are governed. It is, therefore, 
important for us to know something of its general plan. 

N 







178 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1787 


Powers of general government. — Each state was to 
have its own government and make its own laws to 
regulate its private affairs. The general government was 
to care for matters of common interest; it was to have 
power to coin money, to establish a postal system, to 
make war and peace, to maintain an army and a navy, 
and to lay taxes in order to raise money for its expenses. 
There was to be free trade among the states; the general 
government was to regulate trade with foreign countries. 
There was to be religious freedom in all the states. 

The three departments. — The new government was 
divided into three departments: legislative, executive, 
and judicial. Each part of this threefold government was 
given its own peculiar duties and fixed powers; the depart¬ 
ments were expected to balance one another and each was 
to prevent the others from having too much power. 

The legislative, or law-making, body is a Congress 
composed of two parts, a Senate and a House of Repre¬ 
sentatives. The votes of both are necessary to pass any 
bill and make any law. In the Senate, the states are 
equally represented, each by two senators who hold office 
for six years. According to the Constitution, senators were 
elected by their state legislatures, but by the Seventeenth 
Amendment they are now elected by the direct vote of the 
people of their states. In the House of Representatives, the 
people of the states are represented, there being one member 
for a certain number of people; the representatives are 
elected directly by the people and hold office for two years. 
The House has the power to originate bills to raise taxes. 

The chief executive is a president chosen every four 
years by electors chosen by the people. It is the president’s 
duty to see that the laws are carried out; he is aided by 
officers whom he appoints with the consent of the Senate. 
He is commander in chief of the army and the navy. 


1787] THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC 179 

The judicial department consists of a Supreme Court and 
of lower courts established by Congress. These interpret 
the meaning of the federal laws and decide cases coming 
under them. 

Compromises. — Such is the general plan of the govern¬ 
ment. It was not easy to make, nor did it satisfy all people. 



Benjamin Franklin 

There were large states and small states, with different 
industries and interests. They were jealous of one another, 
and it was impossible to meet all their wishes. Each had 
to accept compromises, giving up some of its own wishes 
and interests to the others. 

The two chief compromises were between the northern 
and the southern states and between the large and the 
small ones. The northern states which had few slaves did 
not wish them counted at all in the census taken to decide 
the number of representatives that each state should have; 








180 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1787 


the southern states which had many slaves wished them 
counted at their full number. It was finally agreed to 
count them at three-fifths their actual number. The large 
states wished each state to have members in Congress in 
proportion to population; the small ones objected to this. 
Finally it was agreed that states should be represented 
equally in the Senate and should be represented according 
to population in the House. It was so long before this 
compromise was made that it began to seem that no agree¬ 
ment would be reached and that the states would drift 
apart instead of uniting. Then Franklin rose and pro¬ 
posed that the meetings of the convention be opened with 
prayer. 

“The longer I live,” he said, “ the more convincing proofs 
I see that God governs the affairs of men.” 

Adoption of Constitution. — The plan of government 
drawn up by the convention had to be submitted to the 
states for their adoption. The Constitution was to go into 
effect for the states accepting it as soon as it was agreed 
to by nine of the thirteen. The leading statesmen of the 
country discussed the subject. Those who approved the 
Constitution were called Federalists; those who opposed 
it were called Anti-Federalists. Patrick Henry and Samuel 
Adams were Anti-Federalists. Among the leading Feder¬ 
alists were Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John 
Jay. These three men published a series of eighty-five 
letters, called the Federalist , clearly and ably explaining 
the Constitution and its advantages. 

In less than a year, eleven states had agreed to the Con¬ 
stitution. Within three years, all the thirteen states were 
included in the Union. The chief cause of delay in adopting 
the Constitution was that the people wished to be sure it did 
not infringe on their rights. Several states stipulated that 
certain amendments should be made to limit the power of 


1787] THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC 181 

the central government and to secure the rights of states 
and individuals. Three states — New York, Rhode Island, 
and Virginia — adopted the Constitution on condition that 
they were free to withdraw from the Union, if they desired. 

Forward-looking statesmen hoped that the Constitution 
would prove satisfactory and that the Union would become 
permanent. To which, in case of conflict between the state 
and the union, would the people of the United States owe 
their first duty? The Constitution did not say. Most of 
the men who formed the Constitution would have said ‘ the 
state’; the states which formed the union seemed to them 
superior to the union formed by the states. A different 
opinion was to grow up by degrees, and the question was 
finally to be decided by the great War of Secession. 

Northwest and Southwest territories. — The year that the 
new Constitution was formed, Congress drew up for the 
government of the Northwest Territory an act called the 
Ordinance of 1787. This ordinance said that the territory 
was to have religious freedom ; slavery was forbidden in 
it, but fugitive slaves were to be returned to their owners. 

Later, the Carolinas and Georgia ceded their western 
lands to the general government with the understanding 
that slavery was to be allowed in them. These lands were 
organized into the Southwest Territory. States were to be 
formed from the territories as soon as they were settled. 

Summary [1783-1788]. — After the Revolution, the states drifted 
apart. In 1787, a convention of the ablest men of the country met and 
drew up a constitution. This Constitution provided for a government 
with three departments, — legislative, executive, and judicial, — each 
department having certain fixed duties and powers. This plan was sub¬ 
mitted to the states and adopted ; it is, with a few changes, the Constitu¬ 
tion by which we are now governed. The year that the Constitution 
was drawn up, an ordinance was passed for the government of the 
Northwest Territory; this forbade slavery. In the Southwest Territory 
slavery was allowed. 


182 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1789 


2. Washington’s Terms 

Washington made president [1789].—Without a dissent¬ 
ing vote, George Washington was elected first president of 
the United States. He doubted his fitness for the presi- 



George Washington 

dency, saying that he was only a soldier and an old man 
who longed to retire from public life. But his country 


THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC 


1789] 


183 


wished him to guide its young government, and he obeyed 
its call. 

New York, then a city of 33,000 inhabitants, was selected 
as the first capital of the United States. The fourth of 
March was set as the day for the new government to go 
into effect, but the delegates from the different states were 
slow in assembling, and it was April before they met and 
counted the electoral votes. On the last day of April, 
Washington was inaugurated. It had taken him a week 
to travel in his coach from his home at Mount Vernon to 



Mount Vernon 


New York City. On the way, people crowded to see him 
and girls dressed in white strewed flowers along his path. 
How different this journey was from his dismal retreat 
through the same country a few years before! 

Amendments to Constitution.—The first work of Con¬ 
gress was to propose some Constitutional amendments re- 


















184 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1789 


quired by the people. Ten of these were approved by the 
states and became a part of the Constitution. The first 
eight amendments say that individuals are to have religious 
freedom, freedom of speech, trial by jury, and certain other 
rights. The Ninth and Tenth Amendments say that the 
states and the people retain all rights and powers not given 
by the Constitution to the general government nor denied 
by it to the states. These amendments were made to pro¬ 
tect the rights of states and individuals. 

Washington’s cabinet. — The work done on paper was 
now to be done in deed. A government was to be organ¬ 
ized, its credit established, its standing secured among the 
nations of the world. To aid Washington in his duties as 
executive, Congress created three departments: the Depart¬ 
ment of State, of the Treasury, and of War. Washington 
selected able men to take charge of these departments. 
He appointed Thomas Jefferson of Virginia, Secretary of 
State; Alexander Hamilton of New York, Secretary of 
the Treasury; and Henry Knox of Massachusetts, Sec¬ 
retary of War. These men formed the first presidential 
cabinet, and met with Washington to consult about the 
affairs of the country. The work of Jefferson and of 
Hamilton was especially important. 

Coinage system.—Jefferson proposed a decimal system 
of coinage which was adopted, in place of the English sys¬ 
tem that had been used by the colonies. He wished the 
government to have a decimal system of measures also, 
but this was not adopted. 

Financial affairs. —Hamilton was the leader in financial 
affairs. These were in bad shape. There was a Confeder¬ 
ation war debt of $54,000,000 and a state war debt of 
$25,000,000. Not even the interest on these debts had 
been paid. The government had no credit; in order to 
keep up its credit, a nation, like an individual, must pay 


789 ] 


THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC 


185 


what it owes. Hamilton said that this $80,000,000 was 
“the price of liberty” and the general government ought 
to pay it all. In spite of the poverty of the young repub¬ 
lic, it finally decided to assume the whole of the war debt; 
thus, from the first, the United States has been an honest 
country and has paid every dollar that it owes. 

Various means of raising money were suggested. Pub¬ 
lic lands were to be used and sold ; there was to be a small 
tariff, or tax, on imported goods; there was to be an ex¬ 
cise tax of a few cents a gallon on distilled liquors; a bank, 
called the Bank of the United States, was to be established, 
of which the government was to own one-fifth. Hamilton 
thought that such a bank would be a “ cement of union,” 
uniting the business interests of the country in support of 
the general government. It was finally established, with 
a charter for twenty years. The discussion about the 
establishment of this bank led to the formation of two 
political parties. 

Federalist and Democratic-Republican parties. — Hamil¬ 
ton and his followers formed the Federalist party. They 
claimed the government had large * implied powers ’ as well 
as those delegated or directly given it. They said that the 
right to establish a bank was implied in the clause of the 
Constitution which grants the government power to make 
all laws “ necessary and proper for carrying into execution ” 
the powers directly given it. This clause — Article 1, Sec¬ 
tion 8, clause 18 — is called the Elastic Clause because it 
has been stretched to cover so many things. 

Jefferson led the party called at first Republican, then 
Democratic-Republican. This party opposed the bank, 
saying that the Constitution did not give Congress power 
to establish it, and that the clause from which the Feder¬ 
alists derived the doctrine of ‘ implied powers ’ ought to be 
interpreted strictly, not loosely. 


i86 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1790 


Both parties wished the welfare of the country, but the 
Democratic-Republicans believed it would be best served 
by a government with very limited powers, and the Feder¬ 
alists believed it could be secured only by a strong central 
government. Jefferson had confidence in the common 
people and thought that they ought to rule the country. 
Hamilton did not think that they were fit to rule and he 
wished the government to be controlled by a few able men. 

“Your people, sir,” he said, “your people — is a great 
beast.” 

Franklin’s death. — A few months after Washington 
became president, Benjamin Franklin died. Franklin was 
born in Boston and went, young and poor, to Philadelphia 
to work at his trade as a printer. He became one of the 


foremost men of the 
country. He is well 
called “ the many-sided 
Franklin,” for he was a 
shrewd business man, a 
clever inventor, an able 
philosopher, a skillful 
writer, a public-spirited 
patriot, a great statesman, 
and a broad-minded phi¬ 
lanthropist. Franklin was 
the first American to 
draw attention to the 
force of electricity. By 
his famous experiment,— 



Franklin’s Printing Press 


drawing the current down the string of a kite in a storm, — 
he proved that lightning is a form of electricity. He was 
always interested in the practical side of things, and he 
invented the lightning rod, thus taking the first step to use 
the force which has since been utilized in so many ways. 







1793 ) 


THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC 


187 


Yellow fever in Philadelphia.—Three years after Frank¬ 
lin’s death, Philadelphia had an epidemic of yellow fever. 
Physicians had not learned the cause nor treatment of the 
disease, and they did nothing to prevent it and little to aid 
the sufferers. When a doctor found that a person was ill 
with the fever, often he would order a coffin for a certain 
hour, and usually it would be needed. People suffered for 
lack of nurses, medicine, and even food. An effort was 
made to organize hospitals, but they were badly managed, 
and patients were so cruelly neglected that people would 
die in the street rather than go to them. Sometimes dead 
bodies would lie unburied for days because no one could be 
found to carry them to their graves. Business was at a 
standstill; grass grew in the roads and streets. All who 
were able to do so left the city. People in the surrounding 
country posted guards to drive back or shoot fugitives, so 
as to prevent the spread of the disease. Homeless chil¬ 
dren whom none would feed wandered about till they died 
of hunger or fever. Such was the state of affairs caused 
by an infectious disease a century ago. 

Indian wars. — During Washington’s first term, the In¬ 
dians of the Northwest Territory attacked the settlements 
there. Two bodies of troops sent against them were de¬ 
feated. A third band was sent, commanded by General 
Anthony Wayne, whose prudent courage won from the 
Indians the name of “the chief who never sleeps.” He 
defeated them, and a treaty was made by which the tribes 
agreed to give up the Ohio country and move west. 

Whisky Insurrection [1794]. — During Washington’s 
second term, the young republic had serious troubles at 
home and abroad. 

The payment of the whisky tax was resisted in western 
Pennsylvania. This was a fine grain country, cut off from 
markets by distance and bad roads. It cost more to send 


188 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1794 

grain to the eastern markets than it brought, so the people 
made it into whisky. They said this was the only form in 
which they could market their crops, and they did not 
think that the government had any right to tax it. They 
disregarded the law and mistreated the officers sent to en¬ 
force it. Finally, Washington sent troops to put down the 
insurrection. When the people saw that the government 
could and would require obedience to its laws, they yielded, 
and the Whisky Insurrection ended without fighting. 

Foreign affairs. —The most serious troubles of the country 
were caused by foreign affairs. This was a period of many 
changes and great events in Europe. During the Ameri¬ 
can War of the Revolution, France was ruled by a king; 
soon afterward, there was a revolution and a republic was 
formed. The French Revolution was very unlike the 
American. The French people had been oppressed for 
centuries, and they fought like savages. People were shot 
down in crowds and their bodies were sold to dealers in old 
clothes. A machine was made to cut off heads more rapidly 
than a man could do it with an ax. Women and children 
were executed merely because they belonged to the upper 
class which had oppressed the common people. 

The French republic became involved in war with Great 
Britain. The French government thought that the United 
States ought to help it because both were republics and 
because France had aided the American struggle for inde¬ 
pendence. ‘ Citizen ’ Genet, the French agent in America, 
tried to make the government take sides with France, and 
he behaved so badly that he had to be recalled. 

Meanwhile, the United States were still on unfriendly 
terms with Great Britain. Claiming that the Americans 
had not kept their treaty promise about Tory property and 
debts, the British refused to surrender the forts on the 
northern and northwestern borders. British warships 


THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC 


189 


1793] 

stopped American vessels at sea, searched them, and im¬ 
pressed, or seized, seamen claimed as deserters. More¬ 
over, the British seized American ships carrying food to 
French ports. Now, according to the law of nations, pow¬ 
der, balls, and other military stores are ‘ contraband of 
war,’ and may be seized and destroyed, but other property 
must not be interfered with. 

Declaration of Neutrality [1793]. —The Americans pro¬ 
tested against impressment and against the treatment 
of provisions as contraband. Many people wished to de¬ 
clare war against Great Britain, but prudent men opposed 
this. The United States were unprepared for war. They 
had no army and no navy, and they had no money to pro¬ 
vide either. British troops still held the border posts. 
Spain controlled the lower Mississippi; it was an un¬ 
friendly neighbor and might easily become a formidable 
enemy. Washington thought that America ought not to 
take part in European affairs, and he issued a Proclama¬ 
tion of Neutrality. 

Jay’s treaty [1795]. — John Jay was sent to make a 
treaty with Great Britain, but he could not secure favor¬ 
able terms. Great Britain agreed to surrender the frontier 
forts if the United States would pay the debts due its mer¬ 
chants at the beginning of the Revolution, but it would not 
stop the search of American vessels nor the impressment 
of seamen. Washington hesitated to confirm this treaty; 
finally he signed it, thinking it better than war. 

From all parts of the country there rose an outcry 
against the unsatisfactory treaty. The president was 
abused for signing it and called a ‘traitor’ and an ‘enemy 
to his country’; he felt the injustice keenly and exclaimed 
that ‘ he would rather be in his grave than be president.’ 
But the storm passed, and the wisdom of his course be¬ 
came evident. 


igo SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1792 


Invention of cotton gin [1792]. — The chief event of 
Washington’s presidency was, not foreign affairs, but a 
matter which attracted far less attention at the time. This 
was the invention by Eli Whitney, a Connecticut school 
teacher living in Georgia, of a * cotton engine,’ or cotton 
gin, as we call it. The cotton gin is a machine that re¬ 
moves the seeds from cotton 
lint. Before the gin was 
invented, this labor was per¬ 
formed by human fingers, 
and it took a person all day 
to pick the seeds from a few 
pounds of cotton. The gin 
could accomplish more than 
hundreds of hands. After 
this machine was invented 
to prepare cotton for mar¬ 
ket, it became a profitable 
crop, — the chief, almost 
the only one, of the lower South. In ten years, the amount 
exported increased from less than 200,000 pounds to 
20,000,000 pounds. Slaves were so useful in producing 
the crop that the South depended more than ever on slave 
labor. 

Slavery. — At first, slavery was practiced in all the 
colonies; there was no general feeling anywhere that it 
was wrong. The negroes were unsuited to a cold climate, 
and they were unskilled workmen, unprofitable in a manu¬ 
facturing section; so by degrees, slavery was abolished in 
the North. On the other hand, the negroes, adapted by 
the habit of ages to a warm country and outdoor life, thrived 
on the southern plantations and were useful farm laborers. 

There was a growing feeling, however, that slavery was a 
bad system. Washington, Jefferson, Hamilton, Madison, 



Whitney’s Cotton Gin 



1792] 


THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC 


191 


and other thoughtful men were opposed to it, and many 
antislavery societies were formed in the South. The inven¬ 
tion of the cotton gin created in the cotton-growing states a 
demand for unskilled labor and by making slavery more 
profitable checked to some extent the southern efforts to 
abolish it. Later the violence of the northern Abolition¬ 
ists checked these efforts entirely and slavery was fixed 
firmly on the South until after the War of Secession. 

New states. — While Washington was president, three 
new states were admitted to the Union, — Vermont [1791], 
Kentucky [1792], and Tennessee [1796]. Vermont, the 



first state added to the original thirteen, was formed from 
territory claimed by New York and by New Hampshire. 
It put aside both claims and formed a government of its 
own during the Revolution. Kentucky was the first state 










192 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1797 


west of the Alleghenies. Instead of limiting the suffrage 
to property-holders and taxpayers, like the original states, 
the law of Kentucky allowed all male citizens to vote and 
to hold office, a plan afterwards adopted by other states. 
Tennessee, the third state admitted, had, like Vermont, set 
up a government of its own; it existed for four years as 
the state of Franklin; then it was reunited to North Caro¬ 
lina, and a few years later it became a state of the Union. 

Washington retires from office.—Washington refused 
to be a third time a candidate for the presidency. He 
made a solemn and affectionate farewell address to his 
countrymen, urging them to obey the laws, to do right, and 
to be just to all. He reminded them that “ Religion and 
morality are the . . . great pillars of human happiness”, 
and he advised them to “observe good faith and justice 
towards all nations; cultivate peace and harmony with all.” 

As general, Washington proved himself a great com¬ 
mander; as president, he proved himself a great states¬ 
man. In peace, he accomplished for his country a task no 
less important than his service in war. During his terms, 
the general government was organized and set to work; 
it was no longer an experiment. 

Washington retired to his beloved home, Mount Vernon, 
where he died two years later. It was well said of him 
that, “First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts 
of his countrymen, he was second to none in the humble 
and endearing scenes of private life.” 

Summary [i789—1797] . — George Washington of Virginia, the first 
president, served two terms. During his presidency, ten amendments 
were made to the Constitution, to secure the rights and powers of the 
people and the states. Two political parties were formed, — the Feder¬ 
alist, led by Hamilton, which wished a strong central government, and 
the Democratic-Republican, led by Jefferson, which wished to limit the 
power of the general government. Three new states were admitted to 


1797] 


THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC 


193 


the Union, — Vermont, Kentucky, and Tennessee. The chief domestic 
events were the Indian wars in the Northwest Territory, the Whisky 
Insurrection in Pennsylvania, and Whitney’s invention of the cotton gin. 
The chief foreign events were the Declaration of Neutrality and Jay’s 
treaty with Great Britain. 

3. John Adams’s Term [1797-1801] 

Federalist 

President Adams. — When Washington retired, John 
Adams of Massachusetts was made president. Adams 
was able, honest, and 
patriotic, but he lacked 
tact and discretion. 

‘ X Y Z papers.’ — 

His whole term was 
disturbed by the foreign 
questions which had 
perplexed the last years 
of Washington’s presi¬ 
dency. France, angry 
because the United 
States would not join 
it against Great Britain, 
seized American ships 
and cargoes on the 
open seas. President 
Adams sent commis¬ 
sioners to France to 
make friendly terms. 

They were told by po¬ 
litical agents that if they wished the attacks on American 
ships to cease, they must pay a large sum of money to the 
French government and give bribes to certain officers. 



John Adams 


194 


SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1798 


“ No, no, no ! not a sixpence,” was the answer of the 
Americans. 

A full account of the matter was printed. Instead of 
telling the names of the French agents, the account called 
them ‘X/ ( Y,’ and ‘Z’; hence the correspondence was 
known as * the X Y Z papers.’ All Americans, even those 
who had favored an alliance with our old friend France, 
resented this insult to the United States through their 
commissioners. “ Millions for defense, not one cent for 
tribute,” was the cry of the people. Joseph Hopkinson 
expressed the general feeling in his poem, Hail> Columbia , 
which at once became a popular national song. America 
prepared for war. An army was organized and Washing¬ 
ton was appointed its commander in chief. Ships were 
built, and the navy was made a separate department in¬ 
stead of a division of the War Department. 

Peace with France.—War was not declared against 
France, but Americans were authorized to attack French 
vessels. This they did, and a frigate was captured. As a 
patriot said, ‘America gave France the only tribute we 
would yield — shot and shell.’ About this time, Napoleon 
Bonaparte gained supreme power in France. He had 
European wars on his hands, and preferred to keep on 
friendly terms with the United States. So the French 
government expressed its disapproval of the X Y Z affair 
and the conflict — war in all but name — was ended. 

Naturalization, Alien, and Sedition Acts [1798]. — Dur¬ 
ing the excitement of the time, Congress passed the Natural¬ 
ization, Alien, and Sedition Acts. The Naturalization Act 
increased the period of residence required for citizenship 
from five to fourteen years. The Alien Acts gave the 
president power to send out of the country foreigners whom 
he thought dangerous to the government. The Sedition 
Act said that persons who ‘ wrote, printed, uttered, or pub- 


1708 ) 


THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC 


195 


lished ’ anything calculated to bring the president or Con¬ 
gress “into contempt or disrepute,” were to be fined and 
imprisoned. 

People in all parts of the country objected to the Alien 
and Sedition Acts, saying that they took away the rights 
of free speech and trial by jury. Virginia and Kentucky 
issued resolutions of protest [1798, 1799]. These resolu¬ 
tions said that the Constitution was a compact or agree¬ 
ment formed by the states which delegated to the general 
government certain powers. If it assumed powers not 
delegated, its acts were unlawful and could be set aside by 
the states. 

Jefferson elected president. — In the next election, the 
Democratic-Republican candidates were elected by a large 
majority. According to the law at that time, the person 
who received the most electoral votes became president 
and the one who had the next highest number became vice 
president. Thomas Jefferson of Virginia, the candidate for 
president, and Aaron Burr of New York, the candidate for 
vice president, received the same number of votes. The 
House of Representatives had to choose one of the two as 
president. The House was controlled by the Federalists 
who disliked Jefferson so much that they were tempted to 
set aside the will of the people and to give the first place 
to the man intended for the second one, but, after thirty- 
six ballots, Jefferson was elected. In order that such a 
case might not occur again, the Twelfth Amendment was 
passed, requiring votes to be cast for president and vice 
president separately. 

Summary [1797-1801]. —John Adams of Massachusetts, the second 
president, served one term. The chief event of his term was hostility 
with France. On account of this, the unpopular Naturalization, Alien, 
and Sedition Acts were passed. 


196 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [170^1800 


4. The Republic at the End of the Eighteenth 
Century 

The American republic. — The eighteenth century had 
brought many changes to America. During it, the British 
had overcome the French in the New World ; the colonies 
had been estranged by the government of a foolish, self- 
willed king, and had fought a war which secured their 
independence ; the thirteen independent states had united 
in a republic under one general government. 

Population [1800].—The second census showed that 
in ten years the country’s population had increased from 



First Fire Engine used in Brooklyn, 1785 


nearly four millions to over five millions, of which about 
one-sixth were slaves. The business and profits of slavery 
were shared by all sections. The trade was carried on by 








THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC 


1700-1800] 


197 


New England vessels; the slaves were worked chiefly in 
southern fields. 

There were only a few cities in the country. These 
were dirty and undrained; fevers, smallpox, and other 
diseases were common and deadly. There were no police¬ 
men; instead, citizens served as watchmen or hired men 
to serve in their places. These watchmen walked about 
the streets, carrying lanterns and calling out the hour and 
the weather. 

Industries. — The end of the eighteenth century found 
all the sixteen states ‘ more forest than field, more wilder¬ 
ness than plotted ground.’ The vast natural sources of 
the country’s wealth—fertile soil, valuable forests, and 
rich mines — were hardly touched. Labor and capital 
were needed to develop these. America was the land of op¬ 
portunity. Every man who could use his head or his hands 
to advantage could make his way there. Three-fourths of 
the people in the country were engaged in agriculture. It 
was an important industry in the Middle States and almost 
the only one in the South. The Southern States produced 
chiefly rice, indigo, cotton, tobacco, and naval stores,—tar, 
pitch, and turpentine. The Middle States shipped naval 
stores and exported grain, cattle, and furs. New England 
had some manufactures and kept hundreds of ships busy 
with its trade and fisheries. 

Agricultural methods were bad and wasteful. A gentle¬ 
man of the time said: “ When the forest was first cleared, 
laying bare the rich, deep, black, virgin soil, the slow accu¬ 
mulation of ages of growth and decay, tobacco was grown 
for five successive years. That broke the heart of the land, 
and it was allowed to rest for awhile. Then tobacco was 
raised again until the crop ceased to be remunerative ; and 
then the fields were abandoned to nature. They sowed 
wheat in the virgin soil among the stumps, next year corn, 


198 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1700-1800 


then wheat, then corn again; and maintained this rotation 
as long as they could gather a harvest of five bushels of 
wheat or ten bushels of corn to the acre; after which 
nature was permitted to have her way and new lands 
were cleared for spoliation.” 

Means of transit. — Water was still the chief and most 
convenient highway. Most of the travel on land was done 
in private carriages or on horseback. There were stage 



An Old Stage Coach 


lines between some cities. Soon after the French and 
Indian War, a stage coach called ‘the flying machine’ 
made in two days the trip between New York and Phila¬ 
delphia : usually the journey, which now takes two hours 
by rail, occupied three days. The coaches started early 
in the morning and traveled until late at night. They 















1700-1800] 


THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC 


199 


jolted over stones and stumps, forded small streams and 
crossed large ones in ferryboats. When the ruts were 
deep, the driver would call “ To the right! ” or “ To the 
left! ” and people would lean in the direction named to 
keep from being overturned. Sometimes, men would have 
to get out and put their shoulders to the wheels and prize 
the coach out of a mudhole. It was no unusual thing for 
horses to be drowned and wagons sunk on the highway. 
There was more danger in traveling from Boston to 
Charleston than there is now in a journey around the 
world. 

Settlement of West. — One might suppose that the 
difficulty of getting about the country would keep people 
at home, but it did not. When the first census was taken, 
nine-tenths of the people in the United States lived east of 
the Allegheny Mountains. Already, the building up of the 
country beyond the mountains was beginning. Pioneers, 
with their families and cattle, were going west into the 
wilderness. 

These pioneers — daring, hardy, rough, independent men 
— lived like the first colonists. They built log houses or 
‘half-faced camps,’—log sheds open on the south side. 
Usually they formed settlements for protection against 
Indians. A group of cabins was surrounded by a stockade 
and had blockhouses for defense and refuge. The settlers 
cleared land and raised corn, wheat, hemp, cotton, and 
tobacco. They carried their firearms to the field, and a 
party of men at work was protected by a watchman, gun in 
hand. In any thicket there might lurk Indians, bent upon 
killing the hated white men who were seizing their hunting 
grounds. The contest between the races was especially 
bitter in Kentucky, called “the dark and bloody ground.” 

Goods brought by packhorses or boats from the distant 
settlements were high in price. Salt, for instance, sold 


200 


SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [170^1800 


for ten dollars the pound. The pioneers learned to raise 
or make most things that they needed, and bought little 
except powder and shot, guns and knives. They obtained 
salt by boiling down the water of salt springs. Piles of 
skins were used for beds and bedding. Furniture consisted 
of a few tables and benches made with ax, auger, and saw. 
The men wore buck-skin hunting shirts and leggings, 
moccasins of deer-skin or buffalo hide, and ‘coon-skin’ 
caps. They were seldom seen without their long-barreled 
rifles. 

The western settlers had no convenient markets. Usu¬ 
ally, they carried their furs and farm produce in flatboats 
to New Orleans and returned home by land. The trip 
took three or four months and was dangerous as well as long 
and toilsome. Spain, which owned New Orleans and the 
Louisiana territory, did not wish the Americans to use the 
river. But the pioneers persisted, meeting hardship and 
danger cheerfully. They held their own against Spaniards, 
Indians, and wild beasts, and built up the great West. 

Life in East. — Life in the East was less rough and 
dangerous than in the West, but the century since the 
French and Indian War had brought few changes in the 
manner of living. Each family or neighborhood depended 
largely on itself. It grew its own food, spun and wove its 
own cloth, and made all its own clothing. For fuel and 
lights, people still used chiefly wood and candles. 

Food. — People ate plain food and had little variety. 
They had wheat and corn bread, salt fish, pork, game, and 
a few vegetables raised in their own gardens. Travelers 
said even then that southern people were fond of hot 
breads, and that baked beans were a favorite Sunday dish 
in New England. Much liquor was drunk, and rich men 
imported wines and brandies. Tobacco was generally 
used ; men and women smoked pipes and used snuff. 


1700-1800] 


THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC 


201 


Dress. — Poor people dressed in coarse homespun; 
wealthy ones wore rich fabrics brought from Europe. The 
dress of men was very unlike that of to-day. A man of 
fashion wore a cocked 
hat, a velvet coat, silk 
waistcoat, ruffled and 
embroidered shirt, satin 
or cloth knee breeches, 
and long silk stockings. 

He wore his hair long, 
curled and powdered, 
and he carried a sword 
and a gold or silver 
snuff box. Ladies had 
dresses of heavy satin 
and beautiful brocaded 
silk, made with long 
waists, and full skirts 
draped over huge hoop- 
skirts. Their hair was 
dressed high and pow¬ 
dered. 

Tools and inven¬ 
tions. — People lacked 
many things that we regard as necessities. They had no 
friction matches, cooking stoves, nor sewing machines. 
Farmers plowed their fields with wooden plows drawn by 
horses or oxen, they sowed or planted their seed by hand, 
worked their crops with hoes, cut grain with sickles and 
threshed it with flails. 

Almost the only American labor-saving invention of the 
century was the cotton gin. James Watt, a Scotchman, 
had invented the steam engine and it was being used in 
England to run machinery. Two Americans had experi- 





































202 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [170^1800 


mented with steamboats, and both had made successful 
trips, — John Fitch on the Delaware River, James Rumsey 
on the Potomac, — but neither of the in¬ 
ventors had money and influence to make 
his invention a practical success; people 
laughed at them when 
they said that steam¬ 
boats could travel up 
and down rivers and 
even cross the Atlantic 
Ocean. 

Architecture. —111 

both the North and the 
South, there were some 
handsome, well-fur¬ 
nished houses. In the 
North, these were usu¬ 
ally the homes of 
wealthy merchants; in 
the South, of great 
planters. Most of these houses were of the simple, dignified 
style used in England during the reigns of the Georges. 
Many of these old houses are still standing; two fine 
examples are the Longfellow Home in Massachusetts and 
Westover in Virginia. 

Art. —The halls and parlors of most of these mansions 
were adorned with family portraits. Photography had not 
yet been invented, and most well-to-do people had their 
portraits painted in oils. Artists found portraiture the 
most popular and profitable branch of painting. America 
produced in the eighteenth century three skillful artists,— 
Benjamin West of Pennsylvania, John Copley of Massa¬ 
chusetts, and Gilbert Stuart of Rhode Island. All three 
were good portrait painters, and West’s historical pictures, 
are well known. 



Lady and Gentleman in the Dress of the End of 
the Eighteenth Century 






I 7 oo -I ^oo) 


THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC 


203 



were the chief studies. Longfellow’s Home at Cambridge 

The first state uni¬ 
versity established was that of Pennsylvania, the beginning 
of which was an academy founded by Franklin [1771]. 


Education. —For most people, education was still limited 
to reading, writing, and arithmetic. In New England, 
some of the public 
schools were begin¬ 
ning to admit girls. 

There were a few 
colleges in the coun¬ 
try, of which the best 
known were Harvard, 

William and Mary, 

Yale, and Princeton. 

At these institutions, 

Latin and Greek 



An Old Virginia Mansion, Westover, in Charles City County 













204 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE 11700-1800 


There were two medical schools in the country, — the 
one at Boston, the other at Philadelphia; in these schools, 
students were taught to prepare as well as to prescribe 
medicines. Each doctor mixed his own drugs and prepared 
his powders, salves, and pills. 



William and Mary College, Williamsburg, Virginia. The second college 
in the United States, founded in 1693. 


Literature. — Most of the American writings of the 
eighteenth century were books and papers, now little read, 
on the subjects of history and politics. Colonel William 
Byrd, a Virginia gentleman, wrote an entertaining account 
of his travels. Jonathan Edwards of Connecticut was a 
deep thinker who wrote ably about theology and philos¬ 
ophy. His chief work was On the Freedom of the Will. 
Few of us will read it, but it will be well for all of us to 
remember Edwards’s two resolutions: “To do whatever I 
think to be my duty” and “To live with all my might 
while I do live.” The Federalist letters by Hamilton, 
Madison, and Jay formed an able, well-written statement 
and defense of the Constitution. Wise, witty Benjamin 
Franklin was the foremost author of the Middle States. 









1700-1800] 


THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC 


205 


He wrote about politics, science, and other subjects in a 
clear, shrewd way. His Autobiography is a charming book. 
Every year for twenty-five years, he published Poor Rich¬ 
ard's Almanac , the best of the popular periodicals contain¬ 
ing weather forecasts, jokes, and advice. 

During the closing years of the eighteenth century, there 
were born four men who were to be our first great men of 
letters. These were Cooper, Irving, Bryant, and Prescott. 

Customs and laws. —The customs and laws of the country 
were still harsh. Children, servants, and slaves were 
severely beaten for small offenses. Insane persons were 
chained and whipped. Criminals were herded together in 
prison and often cruelly treated. Men were imprisoned 
years for a small debt. Kind, just treatment of the unfor¬ 
tunate and criminals was a matter of slow growth. 

There had been a great advance in religious matters. 
In all the states, people had religious liberty and were free 
to worship as they pleased. This right was secured to 
them by the Constitution. In many of the states, the laws 
about the observance of Sunday were very strict. Once 
when President Washington was going through Connecti¬ 
cut, he missed his way, and in order to attend the church 
where he was expected he had to drive several miles on 
Sunday morning. His coach was stopped by a tithing 
man, an officer whose duty it was to enforce the law, and 
the president was not allowed to proceed until he explained 
the circumstances which made it necessary for him to travel 
on Sunday. 

Summary [1700-1800]. — At the end of the eighteenth century, the 
Americans had won independence and established a republic. Nearly 
nine-tenths of the people lived east of the Allegheny Mountains, but 
the building up of the West had begun. In the manner of living, there 
had been few changes during the century. The cotton gin was the only 
important labor-saving invention in America; in England, the steam 


206 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE Ix8oi 


engine was coming into use. During the eighteenth century, America 
produced three popular artists, — West, Copley, and Stuart; and two 
notable authors, Jonathan Edwards and Benjamin Franklin. In many 
respects, customs were still harsh and laws severe, but people now had 
religious liberty. 


5. Jefferson’s Terms [1801-1809] 
Democratic-R epublican 

Washington City. — Jefferson was the first president in¬ 
augurated in Washington City. The seat of government 
was first New York City and next Philadelphia. Then 



City of Washington in 1800 


the capital was moved to the District of Columbia on the 
Potomac River, and a noble city was laid out. When Jef¬ 
ferson became president, however, Washington City existed 
only on paper; there were a few buildings scattered here 
and there in fields and woods. 

Chief Justice Marshall. — The oath of office was admin¬ 
istered to Jefferson by John Marshall of Virginia, a famous 
Federalist lawyer, whom Adams had appointed chief jus- 
















THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC 


207 


1801] 

tice of the Supreme Court. Marshall held this office for 
over a third of a century. He was a quiet, simple-mannered 
gentleman who might be seen 
any Saturday walking home with 
his market basket in his hand. 

Marshall, like Hamilton, be¬ 
lieved in a strong central govern¬ 
ment, built up by the use of 
‘implied powers.’ In his deci¬ 
sions of the cases brought before 
him, the chief justice set forth 
his views of the Constitution, 
and did so much to direct the 
course of government that he is 
called ‘ the second maker of the 
Constitution.’ 

President Jefferson.—Jeffer¬ 
son resembled Marshall in his 
unassuming habits, but their 
views about government were very different. The presi¬ 
dent thought “that government is best which governs 
least,” and he wished to have a ‘ simple, inexpensive, un- 
meddlesome ’ government. Although he was by birth a 
member of the rich planter class, he was ‘ the comrade and 
work fellow of the common people.’ “I am persuaded 
that the good sense of the people will always be found 
the best army,” he said; “ they may be led astray for the 
moment, but will soon correct themselves.” 

Like Franklin, Jefferson was a ‘many-sided man,’ — in¬ 
ventor, scientist, scholar, author, philosopher, and states¬ 
man. He was an expert horseman, an excellent shot, and 
a skillful player of the violin ; he was fond of outdoor sports 
and of books; his slender body was as active as an Indian’s 
and his mind was energetic and well-trained. 





2 o8 


SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1803 



Partisan appointments.—Jefferson’s predecessor, Adams, 
was a Federalist, and he had appointed men of his own 
party to office. Jefferson was urged to follow the plan of 
political parties in New York and some other states and 

turn out officehold¬ 
ers to make room 
for men of his own 
party. Then, as 
later, there were 
few vacancies in 
government offices, 
— “those by death 
are few,” said Jef¬ 
ferson ; “ by resig¬ 
nation, none.” He 
said that he would 
remove Federalists 
and appoint Demo¬ 
cratic-Republicans 
till the officeholders 
of the two parties 
were about equal in 
number, after which 
he would “ return 
with joy to that state of things when the only question 
concerning a candidate shall be, ‘ Is he honest ? Is he 
capable? Is he faithful to the Constitution?’” 

Ohio admitted to Union [1803]. — While Jefferson was 
president, Ohio, the first state formed from the Northwest 
Territory, was admitted as a state of the Union. 

Louisiana Purchase. — The year that Ohio became a 
state, the size of the United States was more than doubled 
by the purchase of Louisiana. The United States had 
tried to purchase from France, to which this territory had 


Thomas Jefferson 

















» 
















“ 

























* 
























































/ 



























Lonlltude 100' Wwt frora Of) Greenwich 

THE UNITED STATES IN 1803. 































1803] 


THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC 


209 


been ceded by Spain, a strip of coast including New Orleans, 
so as to secure the mouth of the Mississippi River as an 
outlet. Napoleon refused to sell a part of the French 
possessions in America, but offered to sell the whole. He 
was preparing for war with Great Britain; this sale would 
supply the funds that he needed, and would rid France 
of territory which would be hard to defend against the 
British. The Americans accepted his offer, and the Louisi¬ 
ana territory was bought, in 1803, for $ 15,000,000. Many 
Federalists opposed buying “an unmeasured world beyond 
the Mississippi,” with rivers leading trade from the east to 
the south. Most people, however, approved the purchase, 
thinking that the United States, which controlled a part of 
the Mississippi River system, ought to control the whole. 

The exact boundaries of Louisiana were not given, but 
it was understood to extend from the Gulf of Mexico to 
Canada and from the Mississippi River to the Rocky 
Mountains. Out of this territory were formed, in course 
of time, the states of Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, 
Nebraska, Montana, North and South Dakota, and Okla¬ 
homa, and parts of Minnesota, Kansas, Colorado, and 
Wyoming. When it was purchased by the United States, 
its population consisted of some Indian tribes and about 
40,000 white people settled chiefly along the Mississippi 
and Red rivers. New Orleans was a flourishing city. 

The eastern part of the territory was known to be 
fertile and well-watered. Jefferson foretold that the great 
Mississippi Valley “ will erelong yield more than half of 
our whole produce and contain more than half our inhabit¬ 
ants.” Of the northern and western parts of the Louisi¬ 
ana territory, little was known. People still hoped that the 
Missouri River would furnish a water-way to the Pacific. 
Wonderful tales were told of the unexplored regions. It 
was said, for instance, that some distance up the Missouri 

p 


210 


SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1804 


River there was a great mountain of pure salt, white and 
glittering, nearly two hundred miles long and about fifty 
miles wide, from which flowed streams of salt water. 

Lewis and Clark’s expedition [1804-1806].—A band of 
men was sent to explore the northwestern country. The 
party consisted of about thirty brave, sensible, energetic 
men. They were led by Captain Meriwether Lewis and 
Captain William Clark. They left St. Louis, then a little 
“ frontier town of’log cabins,” ascended the Missouri River, 
following first its south fork and then its western branch, 
until they reached its source and stood on the Great Divide 
of the continent. Less than a mile from the source of the 
Missouri, they found a westward-flowing stream, a branch 
of the Columbia River. After eighteen months’ travel, 
they reached the mouth of the Columbia and “ saw the 
waves like small mountains rolling out in the sea,” — that 
is, the Pacific. The Columbia River had been discovered 
a few years before by a Boston ship captain who gave it 
the name which it now bears. 

The American explorers spent the winter, on the Pacific 
coast, and then returned home. They had traveled 8000 
miles through a region which had never before been 
visited by white men. Their journals give interesting 
descriptions of the country, its minerals, plants, animals, 
and Indian tribes. Among other things, they described 
prairie dogs, antelopes, and grizzly bears before unknown 
to white men. 

First war with Barbary States [1801-1805].—While this 
expedition was exploring the northwest, a small American 
fleet was making war on Tripoli. For hundreds of years, 
the Barbary States — Tripoli, Tunis, Algiers, and Morocco 
— had made a business of piracy, seizing ships and cargoes, 
and killing or enslaving their crews. The United States 
and other countries were in the habit of paying these pi- 


1801-1805] 


THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC 


211 


rates not to molest their vessels. A larger tribute was de¬ 
manded from the Americans, and when this was not paid, 
Tripoli declared war. The American fleet soon brought 
the robber-states to terms. Again the safety of American 
commerce was secured by shot and shell instead of by 
tribute. 

British ‘Orders’ and French ‘Decrees.’—During the 
early years of the nineteenth century, Europe was swept 
by wars. Napoleon made himself Emperor of the French 
and conquered most of western Europe. Great Britain 
almost alone contended against him. Its chief strength 
was its navy, and it tried to use this so as to cut off sup¬ 
plies from Napoleon. It issued ‘ Orders in Council,’ for¬ 
bidding neutral ships to go to ports belonging to the 
French or friendly to them. Napoleon, in turn, issued 
‘ Decrees,’ forbidding neutral ships to trade with Great 
Britain and its colonies. 

These ‘ Orders ’ and ‘ Decrees ’ were a great hardship 
to Americans. It was not safe to send goods in vessels 
belonging to nations engaged in war for fear they would 
be seized by the enemy. As most of the countries of Eu¬ 
rope were taking part in the war, the trade of the world 
was carried on chiefly in American vessels. The United 
States protested to France and Great Britain that the 
‘Orders’ and ‘Decrees’ were contrary to our rights as a 
neutral state. The protest was disregarded. Warships 
attacked our merchant vessels that went to the forbidden 
ports. Within a few years, Great Britain seized nearly a 
thousand American ships and France seized over five 
hundred. 

“ England seems to have become a den of pirates and 
France a den of thieves,” complained Jefferson. 

Impressment. —The British continued to search Ameri¬ 
can ships and impress sailors. Many of these men really 


212 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1807 



were deserters; when Great Britain needed every one, 
seamen were leaving her service by hundreds and thou¬ 
sands and shipping on American vessels. But many of 
the men impressed were American subjects by adoption or 

by birth. 

Embargo Act 
[1807]. — It 
seemed that 
America must 
fight for her 
rights or must 
abandon the seas. 
She was still too 
weak to fight, 
if it could be 
avoided. Presi¬ 
dent Jefferson 
thought that it 
would be better 
to abandon the 
seas for awhile, 
hoping that the 
injury to French 
and British trade 
would cause 
these nations to 
make terms. Ac¬ 
cordingly, an 
Embargo Act 

Caricatures of Jefferson and the Embargo Was passed, for¬ 

bidding ships to 

leave America for foreign ports. Trade was at a standstill. 
Northern ships and sailors were idle, instead of plowing 
the sea which was ‘ New England’s farm.’ The wheat and 









THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC 


213 


1807] 

live stock of the Middle States, shut out from market, fell 
to one-half their value. The South not only had no sale 
for its crops of tobacco, rice, and cotton, but had its hosts 
of slaves to support as in times of prosperity. 

All parts of the country suffered from the Act, but dis¬ 
content was greatest in New England. There secession 
from the Union was threatened unless the Embargo Act 
was repealed. It was repealed. In its place, a Non-inter- 
course Act was passed [1809], which forbade trade only 
with France and Great Britain. 

The hardships of this time were not without benefit. 
The stopping of foreign trade encouraged home industries. 
Manufacturing was established, especially in New England. 

Means of transit. — These foreign affairs occupied sev¬ 
eral years. Meanwhile, two steps were taken to improve 


Conestoga Wagon 



means of transit: a great western highway was planned 
and the steamboat was invented. 

At first, pioneer travelers sought water-ways ; then as it 
became necessary to cross the land, they followed Indian 
trails and buffalo roads. The Indian trails were mere 









2! 4 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE (i&o 7 


tracks,a few inches wide, along which the savages traveled 
single file; they usually followed the divides between 
streams and the gaps in mountains. West of the Appa¬ 
lachians, the buffaloes were the great roadmakers, travel¬ 
ing in vast herds from one feeding ground to another and 
choosing with unerring instinct the best routes through the 
mountain gaps and along the watersheds. 

Cumberland Road.—The government planned a high¬ 
way along the old Indian trails, to the common estate in 
the West. In course of time, a good road with a hard 
surface, easy grades, and substantial bridges was built 
from Cumberland in Maryland to the Ohio River. No 
railroad of to-day is of so much importance as was this 
highway, for it was the only good, safe route to the West. 



The Clermont 


Fulton’s steamboat [1807]. — About this time, a success¬ 
ful attempt was made to apply steam to water navigation. 
Robert Fulton invented a steamboat with side-wheels 










































THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC 


215 


1807] 

turned by machinery. His vessel, the Clermont , looked 
“ like a backwoods sawmill mounted on a scow and set on 
fire.” But this clumsy little vessel could travel against 
wind and tide, and was the parent of our great steam¬ 
ships which make the 
“ once-dividing sea a 
silver bridge.” The 
Clermont made in thirty- 
three hours the hun- 
dred-and-fifty-mile trip 
from New York City to 
Albany which took sail¬ 
ing vessels several days. 

Jefferson retires to 
private life. — Jefferson, like Washington, was urged to 
accept a third term; like Washington, he refused. The 
example of these great presidents has established a cus¬ 
tom, as strong as law, that no president shall serve more 
than two terms. 

Summary [1801-1809]. — Thomas Jefferson of Virginia, the third 
president, served two terms. While he was president, Ohio was ad¬ 
mitted to the Union; steps were taken to improve transit by land and 
water, by building a highway to the West and by Fulton’s invention of 
a steamboat. Louisiana, the vast territory between the Mississippi 
River and the Rocky Mountains, was purchased from the French. 
A brief, successful naval war was waged against the Barbary States. 
On account of French and British attacks on American ships, the 
Embargo Act was passed, forbidding foreign trade; it was so unpopular 
that a Non-intercourse Act was substituted for it. 

6. Madison’s Terms: The War of 1812 [1809-1817] 
D cm ocra tic-Repub lican 

President Madison. — James Madison of Virginia, ‘the 
father of the Constitution,’ succeeded Jefferson as presi- 



Monticello, the Home of Thomas Jefferson 




216 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1812 


dent. Madison was a scholarly, patriotic, peace-loving 
gentleman, with grave, modest, courteous manners. His 
wife, ‘ Dolly ’ Madison, was a famous social leader. 

New states. — 
While Madison 
was president, 
two new states 
were admitted to 
the Union, Louis¬ 
iana [1812] and 
Indiana [1816]. 
Louisiana was the 
first state formed 
from the Louisi¬ 
ana Territory; 
this province was 
slave-holding ter¬ 
ritory and Louis¬ 
iana was admitted 
as a slave state. 
Indiana was 
formed from a part of the Northwest Territory in which 
slavery was prohibited and it was a free state. 

War declared against Great Britain [June, 1812].— 
Like Jefferson, Madison wished if possible to avoid war. 
The Non-intercourse Act was repealed, so that friendly 
relations with France and Great Britain might be re¬ 
sumed if they would stop interfering with American trade. 
Napoleon publicly repealed his ‘Decrees.’ Secretly, how¬ 
ever, he instructed officials to pay no attention to the 
public orders; American ships, sailing to ports thought 
to be open, were seized with their cargoes. 

While France pretended friendship, Great Britain re¬ 
mained openly hostile. She refused to repeal her ‘Orders,’ 




1812] the AMERICAN REPUBLIC 217 

asserting very truly that Napoleon had not really with¬ 
drawn his ‘Decrees.’ Impressments continued. A British 
sloop, Little Belt , fired on an American frigate, the Presi¬ 
dent, and was fired on in turn. 

To protect the rights of American seamen, war was de¬ 
clared against Great Britain. The United States were 
weak and unprepared for war. The regular army con¬ 
sisted of only 7000 men; the navy was composed of seven 
frigates and a few smaller vessels ; the government income 
was only $10,000,000. The Federalists, especially in New 
England where was most of the money of the country, 
were opposed to war and were unwilling to furnish money 
or troops. 

Indian wars. — The difficulties of the time were increased 
by Indian risings. Tecumseh, a Shawnee chief, and the 
Prophet, his twin brother, attempted, like Pontiac, to unite 
the tribes of the Northwest against the white settlers. 
The Indians led by the Prophet were defeated by General 
Harrison at Tippecanoe, an Indian village on a branch of 
the Wabash River. 

Two years later, the Creeks, a warlike southern tribe, 
rose against the whites. They attacked Fort Mims near 
Mobile and killed five hundred persons, sparing neither 
women nor children. Andrew Jackson of Tennessee led 
the militia of Tennessee and Georgia against the Creeks 
and defeated them in several battles, winning a final vic¬ 
tory at Horseshoe Bend on the Tallapoosa River. 

Invasion of Canada [1812]. —The War of 1812 was 
fought on the borders, — first along the northern frontiers, 
then on the eastern shores, and at last on the southern 
coast. 

At the beginning of the war, the Americans planned 
an invasion of Canada. This was to be undertaken by 
three armies,—the first coming from Detroit, the second 


218 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1812 


crossing Niagara River, and the third advancing by way 
of Lake Champlain. They were to unite at Montreal and 
conquer Canada. 

The Army of the Northwest was the first to advance. 
With about 2000 men, General William Hull left Detroit, 
the most important town of the Northwest, and entered 
British territory. General Brock with 3000 men, aided by 
Indians under Tecumseh, advanced to meet him. Instead 
of fighting, General Hull retreated to Detroit, which he 



Scene of the War in the North 


surrendered without attempting its defense. This gave 
the British control of the Northwest. Hull was tried for 
cowardice and sentenced to death, but was pardoned by 
the president out of regard to his age and his services in 
the Revolution. 

That fall, part of the second army which was to invade 
Canada crossed Niagara River and took Queenstown 
Heights. The militia, which composed the remainder of 
the forces, refused to go to the aid of their comrades, say¬ 
ing that they were not required by law to serve out of 
the state. The troops at Queenstown had to surrender. 
The third army did not even attempt to enter British terri¬ 
tory. Thus the planned invasion came to nothing. 

















THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC 




-* 

> 



The Constitution 
















220 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE Ii8i* 


Naval battles. —While the Americans were unsuccessful 
on land, their navy surprised the world. It had only twelve 
warships, and Great Britain, ‘ the mistress of the seas,’ had 
a thousand. But the American ships were excellent and 
their crews were brave men, skillful sailors, and good gun¬ 
ners. They had some able captains, too, who had gained 
experience in the War with the Barbary States. Their ships 
frequented the trade highways of the ocean and attacked 
British vessels. Of eighteen ocean duels during the war, 
America won fifteen. This was a new record for Great 
Britain. During twenty years’ fighting with France, she 
had taken hundreds of ships and had lost only five. A 
great London newspaper, the Times , said of the American 
ships: “ If they fight, they are sure to conquer; if they fly, 
they are sure to escape.” 

The most famous vessel in the American navy was the 
Constitution, called ‘Old Ironsides.’ Her first success was 
one of seamanship. She was chased by a British squadron 
for three days and nights; more than once the British 
were within cannon shot but the vessel succeeded in 
getting away. Later, commanded by Captain Isaac Hull, 
she attacked the British frigate Gnerrttre in the Gulf of 
St. Lawrence [August 19]; after a gallant fight of about 
half an hour, in which the British vessel was almost shot 
to pieces, the Guerrikre was captured. This was the first 
British frigate which had been captured by a frigate for 
thirty years. 

One of the ships lost by the Americans the second year 
of the war was the frigate Chesapeake , commanded by 
Captain James Lawrence. It was captured near Boston 
Harbor by the British frigate Shannon [June 1, 1813]. 
Captain Lawrence was mortally wounded; as he was 
carried off the deck, he called, “ Don’t give up the 
ship,”— words which have become the motto of the 
American navy. 


THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC 


221 


1813] 


Campaign of 1813. — The second year of the war, the 
Americans again planned to invade Canada. For this 
purpose, they put three armies in the field: the Army of 
the North near Lake Champlain, the Army of the Center 
between Lakes Ontario and Erie, and the Army of the 
Northwest on the west shore of Lake Erie. 

The Army of the Center crossed Lake Ontario, took 
York, — now Toronto, — burned its parliament house, and 
destroyed the military stores collected in the town. A 
part of the Army of the Northwest, which was commanded 
by General Harrison, was defeated at the River Raisin 
near Detroit by the British and Indians [January 22]; the 
wounded and prisoners were murdered by the savages. 
As soon as tidings of this massacre reached the western 
settlements, the hardy frontiersmen of Kentucky and Ohio 



Perry at the Battle of Lake Erie 


this, it was necessary to get control of Lake Erie. Young 
Captain Oliver Perry of Rhode Island was sent to Lake 




222 


SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1813 


Erie to fight the British fleet. First, he had to build a 
fleet of his own. Nails, ropes, sails, tools, guns, and 
ammunition were carried by boat up streams and hauled 
overland in ox wagons. Captain Perry worked with won¬ 
derful energy, and in a few months he had at Erie a little 
fleet which, as he said, ‘ was growing in the woods the 
spring before.’ 

This fleet attacked a British fleet of about equal 
strength [September 10]. Perry’s flagship was destroyed; 
he went in a rowboat to another vessel, and in this he 
broke through the British line, firing right and left. After 
a three-hours’ fight, the British were defeated; it was the 
first time that a British squadron ever surrendered. Perry 
announced this famous victory in a dispatch to General 
Harrison: “We have met the enemy and they are ours,— 
two ships, two brigs, one schooner, and one sloop. Yours 
with great respect and esteem, O. H. Perry.’’ 

Battle of the Thames.—After the battle of Lake Erie, 
the British left Detroit and retired into Canada. They 
were followed by the American army under General Har¬ 
rison which, in the battle of the Thames [October 5], 
won a decisive victory over the British and their Indian 
allies. Tecumseh was killed and his followers surrendered 
to General Harrison. This battle ended the war in the 
Northwest. General Harrison resigned, and the next year 
younger generals — Brown, Scott, and Ripley — took 
the field. 

Campaign of 1814.— Again Canada was invaded. 
General Jacob Brown, aided by Colonel Winfield Scott, 
crossed Niagara River, took Fort Erie, invaded Canada, 
and did some good fighting. A battle was fought at 
Chippewa [July 5]; the British fell back, but were reen¬ 
forced, and at Lundy’s Lane near Niagara Falls a stub¬ 
born drawn battle was fought [July 25]. The Americans 


THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC 


223 


1814] 

retired to their own territory, and the campaign ended 
without either side having gained any real advantage. 

Napoleon had now been defeated, and Great Britain was 
able to send larger forces against the Americans. It 
planned to pursue the war with vigor, invading the states 
by the Lake Champlain route with a large army and fleet, and 
attacking New Orleans with another army and fleet. The 
northern campaign was undertaken first. 

Battle of Lake Champlain.—Twelve thousand soldiers 
were sent down the western shore of Lake Champlain to 
attack the American militia at Plattsburg. First, however, 
it was important to get control of the lake, on which both 
the British and the Americans had small fleets. The British 
were superior in ships, guns, and men, but after a hard- 
fought battle of less than three hours, the little American 
fleet, commanded by young Captain Thomas Macdonough 
of Delaware, won the victory [September 11 ]. The British 
surrendered some of their vessels 
and withdrew the others. Their 
army retreated to Canada, and 
the planned invasion was aban¬ 
doned. 

British attacks on Atlantic 
coast. — British ships swarmed 
along the Atlantic coast and 
plundered and burned towns 
along the undefended coast from 
Maine to Virginia. Washington 
City was attacked, and the Capi¬ 
tol and some other buildings were burned. From Wash¬ 
ington, the British squadron sailed to Baltimore, but it was 
repulsed by Fort McHenry which commands the harbor. 

During the battle, an American, Francis Key, was de¬ 
tained on a British vessel. When the firing ceased, he 



British Campaign against 
Washington, 1814 






224 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1814 


was ignorant of the result of the fight, and he watched 
impatiently till daylight revealed the star-spangled banner 
floating above Fort McHenry. Then he expressed his 
patriotic joy in a well-known poem, The Star-spangled 
Banner. 

Hartford Convention. — Despite the successes of the 
year, New England’s dislike of the war increased. War 
taxes, the attacks on the coast, and the injury to trade 
seemed to her to overbalance a few victories by land and 
sea. Delegates from Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and 
Connecticut met at Hartford and passed resolutions which 
amounted to saying that if the war was continued, New 
England would withdraw from the Union. 

Treaty of peace [December 24]. —While this convention 
was in session, a treaty of peace was signed at Ghent. 
Great Britain, burdened with a war debt and heavy taxes, 
was ready to come to terms. Nothing was said in the 
treaty about impressment; but the end of the French war 
and the proved ability of Amer¬ 
ican seamen to defend their 
rights had put an end to that 
grievance. 

Battle of New Orleans [Janu¬ 
ary 8, 1815]. — The war which 
began with defeat ended with a 
brilliant victory. Two weeks 
after peace was made, before 
the slow sailing-ships brought 
news of the treaty, a great battle 
was fought at New Orleans. This city was attacked by a 
British fleet bearing 12,000 men, many of whom were 
veterans of European wars. It was defended by General 
Andrew Jackson with about 6000 men, chiefly French 
Louisianians and militia from Tennessee and other states. 



New Orleans and Vicinity 




THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC 


225 


1815] 


General Jackson was cool, brave, and skillful,—the ablest 
American general from the time of Washington and 
Greene to that of Grant and Lee. 

“ Our watchword is victory or death,” he said to his 
men. “We will enjoy our liberty or perish in the last 
ditch.” 

He stationed his troops a few miles below New Orleans, 
in a place defended on the left by a swamp and on the 
right by the Mississippi River; the front he protected by 



earthworks and a ditch. In this strong position, the Ameri¬ 
cans were attacked by the British under General Edward 
Pakenham. The British were driven back, but advanced 
again and again to the attack. Finally, they were repulsed 
with a loss of 2600 men, including brave General Paken¬ 
ham himself. The Americans lost only eight men killed 
and twelve wounded. This was the worst defeat ever sus¬ 
tained by a British army. 

Results of war. — In the War of the Revolution, the 
Americans won political independence of Great Britain; 
in the War of 1812, they won commercial independence. 

Q 




























226 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1816 


Up to this time, the United States had not been ranked 
among the first-class powers of the world, but the naval 
exploits of this war gave the republic a new standing. 

In order to help pay the war expenses, the Bank of the 
United States was reestablished; its charter, which had 
expired a few years before, was renewed for twenty years. 

American manufactures. — The Embargo Act and the 
War of 1812 had stopped American trade and shut in 
American produce; they had also shut out foreign goods. 
Labor and capital, especially in New England, where both 
were most plentiful, were turned from foreign trade to 
manufactures and domestic trade. 

In a few years, the value of the cotton, woolen, and iron 
articles produced at home rose from thousands to millions 
of dollars. Factories were started for weaving cotton, 
wool, flax, hemp, and even silk. The power loom, run by 
steam or water instead of by hand, had been lately in¬ 
vented and was used in British factories. An American 
learned enough about its work to make one, and power 
looms were established in New England. A Massachu¬ 
setts factory received raw cotton in bales; carded, spun, 
and wove it, and sent it out as cloth. It was the first 
factory in the world to do this. 

Tariff. — After the War of 1812, British manufacturers 
sought to regain their old markets in the United States and 
sent over cargoes of goods which sold readily. Labor was 
cheaper and more abundant in Great Britain than in 
America; and now that Great Britain was again at peace and 
free to devote its energies to trade, there seemed danger of 
its controlling the markets of the United States and injur¬ 
ing or destroying their young industries. American manu¬ 
facturers asked protection,—that is, they wished a tariff 
or tax put on goods brought into the country, so that the 
foreign goods, with this tax added to their cost, would have 


THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC 


227 


1816] 


to be sold at a price that would not prevent profits by 
home manufacturers. Such a tax is called a protective 
tariff. 

After some discussion, a protective tariff of about 
twenty per cent was put on cotton and woolen goods and 
some other articles [1816]. 

Second war with Barbary States [1815]. — Soon after 
the War of 1812, Algerian pirates attacked American ships 
to collect tribute. The United States promptly sent a 



Calhoun, Webster, and Clay 


small fleet against the pirate states in northern Africa, 
forced them to release American prisoners, to pay for 
captured vessels, and to make a treaty agreeing not to 
molest American ships. 

The United States never again paid tribute to the 
pirates. 

Three famous statesmen. — While Madison was president, 
there entered Congress three statesmen who were to lead 
public affairs during the next forty years. These were 
Henry Clay of Kentucky, John C. Calhoun of South Caro- 




228 


SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1816 


lina, and Daniel Webster of New Hampshire. Webster 
was an able statesman and an eloquent orator, with a person 
as “impressive as a cathedral.” Calhoun was a man of 
high principle and commanding talents, unsurpassed as a 
clear, powerful reasoner. Clay possessed great ability and 
remarkable personal charm. He was Speaker of the 
House, and under him that office became next to the 
president’s in power. He managed the two hundred 
members of the House as a skillful coachman manages 
his team; on the whole, he managed them for the good 
of the country. He lived up to his saying, “ Government 
is a trust and the officers of the government are trustees; 
and both the trust and the trustees are created for the 
benefit of the people.” 

Summary [1809-1817]. — James Madison of Virginia, the fourth 
president, served two terms. During this time, two new states were 
admitted, Louisiana and Indiana. 

The War of 1812 was fought against Great Britain in defense of the 
rights of American seamen. The war began in 1812 with an unsuc¬ 
cessful attempt to invade Canada. A British fleet on Lake Erie was 
defeated by Perry; then Canada was invaded by General Harrison, 
and the battle of the Thames was fought. The British attempted to 
invade New York by way of Lake Champlain, but their fleet was de¬ 
feated by the Americans under Macdonough. The Constitution and 
other American ships won brilliant victories. British squadrons 
attacked towns on the Atlantic coast and burned the Capitol at Wash¬ 
ington. In the third campaign against Canada, the Americans, under 
Generals Brown and Scott, invaded British territory, and stubborn 
battles were fought at Chippewa and Lundy’s Lane. Peace was made 
in 1814. Before news of the treaty reached America, a battle was 
fought at New Orleans, in which the Americans under Jackson won a 
great victory. 

About the time of the War of 1812, there were Indian risings, which 
ended in the defeat of the northern and southern Indians. In a 
second war with the Barbary States, the United States finally defeated 
the pirates. 


THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC 


1817] 


229 


7. Monroe’s Terms [1817-1825] 
Democratic-Republican 

President Monroe. — James Monroe of Virginia, who 
succeeded Madison as president, was a tall, broad-shoul¬ 
dered, fine-looking man ; he had fought at Trenton, Brandy¬ 
wine, Germantown, and Monmouth, and liked to wear his 
Revolutionary uniform of 
blue coat, buff small 
clothes, and cocked hat. 

In manners he was cour¬ 
teous, dignified, modest. 

Jefferson said, “ If his 
soul were turned inside 
out, not a blot could be 
found upon it.” In a 
steady, reasonable way, he 
defended the rights and 
interests of the United 
States. 

Political affairs. — Dur¬ 
ing the terms of the first 
four presidents, most of 
the questions which occupied America dealt with foreign 
matters,—Jay’s treaty, ‘the X Y Z papers,’ British 
‘ Orders,’ French ‘ Decrees,’ impressment, the Embargo 
Act, and the War with Great Britain. After Napoleon 
was finally defeated at Waterloo [1815], there was peace 
in Europe for the first time since the colonies became a 
republic. Foreign affairs ceased to disturb the United 
States, and there was deeper interest in domestic affairs. 
In the course of time, these divided the people more than 
foreign questions had ever done. 



James Monroe 


2$0 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1*1 1 


As a result of the War of 1812, the Federalist party 
which opposed it went to pieces and the Democratic- 
Republican was the only party left. Monroe’s term is 
called the ‘Era of Good Feeling’ because all people be¬ 
longed to the same party ; during it, however, an issue 
took definite shape which was to cause sectional dissension. 
This was the question of slavery. 

Settlement of West. —The question of slavery was brought 
forward by the growth of the country. Steadily, from co¬ 
lonial days, the frontier moved westward. First, it lay 
along the coast; it moved up the streams to their head¬ 
waters, leaped across the mountains, and passed from the 
eastern branches of the Mississippi to the western ones. 

A steady stream of pioneers made their way to the pub¬ 
lic lands west of the Alleghenies. They went down the 
water-ways or traveled along the Cumberland Road. 
When they found places that pleased them, they built 
cabins, set beaver traps, and cleared and cultivated fields. 

The chief trade of the West was carried on first by flat- 
boats, then by steamboats which went up and down the 

Ohio, Tennessee, 
Missouri, and 
Mississippi rivers. 
The flatboats were 
often floating 
stores, carrying 
cloth, knives, pow¬ 
der, shot, and 
other goods to sell 
or barter for prod¬ 
uce,— pork, lum¬ 
ber, flour, grain, 
cotton, tobacco. The boats, laden with produce, dropped 
down the Mississippi River to New Orleans. There they 



An Ohio Flatboat a Hundred Years Ago 





i 8 i 7 l THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC 


231 


and their cargoes were sold, and the crews returned 
through the country or came up the river on steamboats. 



A Mississippi River Cotton Steamer of To-day 


New states.—As the country built up, new states were 
formed. In six years, six states were admitted to the 
Union, — Indiana [1816], Mississippi [1817], Illinois 
[1818], Alabama [1819], Maine [1820], and Missouri 
[1821]. 

Slavery. — The admission of Missouri brought up the 
question of slavery. This had now become a sectional 
question; it had been almost entirely abolished in the 
states north of Mason and Dixon’s line and was practiced 
in the states south of it. 

The Constitution gave the general government no au¬ 
thority over the system of slavery; it was a question for 
each of the original states to decide for itself and settle by 
its own laws. The general government had, however, pro¬ 
hibited slavery in the Northwest Territory; therefore, the 
states formed from it — Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, 
and Wisconsin — entered the Union as free states. Slav¬ 
ery was allowed in the Southwest Territory, and from it 









SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1820 


slave states were formed. The Ohio River was the bound¬ 
ary between free and slave states east of the Mississippi. 
F'or the original territory, the question was settled. 

Missouri Compromise. — But new territory and the mak¬ 
ing of new states brought the question up again. What 
about the vast Louisiana Territory? Under the French 
and the Spanish, it was a slave-holding region. Were the 
states formed from it to be slave or free ? Its first state 
was Louisiana in the extreme south, and that was admitted 
with slavery. Its next Missouri, far to the north, had 
been settled chiefly by southern men, and it wished to come 
in as a slave state also. Northern members of Congress 
opposed this. Southern members said that unless Mis¬ 
souri was admitted as a slave state, they would not agree 
to admit Maine, which was also applying for statehood. 

Missouri was not a question merely of the future of one 
state, but of the balance of power between the two sec¬ 
tions. There were twenty-two states, of which eleven were 
slave and eleven free. The sections had equal power in 
the Senate; in the House the North and Northwest had 
the majority. Unless slave states were formed west of the 
Mississippi, the South would soon be outnumbered in the 
Senate as it was in the House, and the free states would 
control affairs. 

After long and bitter discussion of the matter, each sec¬ 
tion yielded something and, in 1820, the Missouri Com¬ 
promise was agreed on: Missouri was admitted as a slave 
state; out of the remainder of the Louisiana Territory, 
north of the parallel of 36° 30', free states were to be 
formed ; south of this line, slave states were to exist. This 
compromise gave the South the first state in question, but 
it gave the North advantage in the future, as three-fourths 
of the Louisiana Territory lay north of 36° 30'. This 
decision satisfied, however, neither the North which wished 
















































\ 

























V 



















































































» 


























*• 














% 












































THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC 


1821I 


233 


to close the whole territory to slave-holders, nor the South 
which wished to open it all to them. 

Florida Purchase [1821]. — Slave territory was extended 
by the purchase of Florida. This territory, which included 
parts of Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana, as well as 
the present state of Florida, was bought from Spain. For 
it the United States paid $5,000,000 and ceded Spain 
their claims to Texas, as a part of the Louisiana Territory, 
accepting the Sabine River for their boundary on the 
southwest. 

Monroe Doctrine. — About this time, several of the Span¬ 
ish provinces in Central and South America declared their 
independence and formed republics. The United States, 
sympathizing with their desire for liberty and wishing to 
trade freely with them, recognized them as independent 
states. It was feared that other European nations would 
aid Spain to recover the revolted provinces. The United 
States were uneasy, too, lest Russia, which owned Alaska, 
should attempt to occupy the western coast of North 
America. 

To prevent these European monarchies from gaining a 
foothold on the American continents, President Monroe, in 
1823, asserted what is called the Monroe Doctrine. This 
says: first, that the United States will not interfere with 
the affairs of European nations; second, that the United 
States will resent any attempt by European nations to 
interfere with any independent American government; 
third, that no more European colonies are to be estab¬ 
lished in North or South America. “The American 
continents, by the free and independent conditions which 
they have assumed and maintained, . . . are henceforth 
not to be considered as subjects for future colonization by 
any European power.” 

At the beginning of the young republic’s life, Wash- 


234 


SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1823 


ington declared, in his Proclamation of Neutrality, the 
principle of non-interference in foreign affairs. Monroe 
announced formally the principles which had guided the 
republic from the first:— that it avoided entanglement in 
European politics and it claimed and would keep its place 
as the chief power of the western continent. 

Lafayette’s visit. —Near the close of Monroe’s second 
term, the United States were visited by Lafayette, ‘the 
adopted son ’ of the American republic. He who had 
come, young, rich, and noble, to aid our struggle for inde¬ 
pendence, was now old, broken by imprisonment, deprived 
by the P'rench Revolution of wealth, estates, and title. He 
traveled through all the states, and was received everywhere 
as an honored guest. Congress gave him a grant of money 
and of land. On the fiftieth anniversary of the battle of 
Hunker Hill, he laid the cornerstone of a monument on the 
battleground. What wonderful changes had taken place 
in the half century since that battle was fought! By two 
wars with the mother country, the American states had won 
independence and established themselves as a world power. 




William Cullen Bryant 


Washington Irving 


Literature. — In art and literature the young country had 
not as yet made much progress. A clever British writer 


THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC 


1823] 


23 S 


asked sneeringly, “ In the four quarters of the globe, 
who reads an American book ? ” 

Three Americans were beginning to write books that 
were worth reading. These were William Cullen Bryant, 
Washington Irving, and 
James Fenimore Cooper. 

Irving and Cooper were 
born in New York, and 
Bryant made it his 
adopted home. Bryant 
wrote Thanatopsis, Ode 
to a Water Fowl , and 
other beautiful poems. 

Irving wrote many 
charming books. One 
of these was Knicker¬ 
bocker s History of New 
York , a humorous ac¬ 
count of the Dutch col¬ 
ony. His most popular 
work was the Sketch- 
Book, containing Rip 
Van Winkle , Legend of Sleepy Holloiv , and other tales and 
sketches. Later, Irving wrote histories and biographies, 
chiefly about Spanish subjects. All young people enjoy 
Cooper’s vivid, wholesome sea tales and stories of pioneer 
and Indian life. The scenes of three of the best of these— 
The Spy , The Deerslayer , and The Last of the Mohicans — 
were laid in the state of New York near Cooper’s own 
home. 

John Quincy Adams elected president. — At the end of 

Monroe’s second term, there were four presidential candi¬ 
dates, all of whom were called Democratic-Republicans. 
General Andrew Jackson received most votes and John 









236 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1824 

Quincy Adams had the next highest number, but the votes 
were so scattered that no candidate received a majority; a 
second time, the House of Representatives had to choose 
the president. Clay and many other public men thought 
that Jackson was only “an able military chief,” unfit for 
the presidency; they voted for Adams and he was made 
president. 

Summary [1817-1825]. — James Monroe of Virginia, the fifth presi¬ 
dent, served two terms. This period is known as t the Era of Good 
Feeling 1 ; about this time, however, there came forward the question of 
slavery which was to cause strife. The discussion as to whether free 
or slave states should be formed from the Louisiana Territory was 
settled by the Missouri Compromise ; Missouri was admitted as a slave 
state, and it was agreed that the Louisiana Territory north of 36° 30' 
should be free and south of that line should be open to slavery. While 
Monroe was president, five new states were admitted, — Mississippi, 
Illinois, Alabama, Maine, and Missouri. Florida was purchased from 
Spain for $5,000,000. The president announced the Monroe Doctrine, 
declaring that the United States will not interfere in European affairs 
nor allow any European power to interfere in America. Literature was 
being developed in America; Bryant, Irving, and Cooper were writing 
poems, sketches, and stories. 


8. John Quincy Adams’s Term [1825-1829] 

Democratic-R epublican 

President J. Q. Adams. —John Quincy Adams was the 
son of President John Adams. He was a gentleman who 
had had every advantage of education and training. He 
was able, honest, and hard-working, but his manners were 
formal and reserved, and he lacked the gift of winning 
friends. In the country at large, he was not popular; 
people thought that Jackson, who had received most votes, 
ought to have been made president. 

Deaths of John Adams and Jefferson. — The year after 


1826] 


THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC 


237 



John Quincy Adams became president, John Adams and 
Thomas Jefferson died, both on the fiftieth anniversary 
of the Declaration of Indepen¬ 
dence. 

Jefferson’s work for education. 

— During the last twenty years 
of his life, Jefferson did a work 
hardly second to that which he 
accomplished as president. He 
laid out a system of education, 
extending from common schools 
where boys and girls were to be 
taught free of charge, to a great 
university not ruled by any 
church or creed. He said that 
the schoolhouse ought to be in reach of every man’s door, 


John Quincy Adams 



Rotunda of the University of Virginia 












238 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1826 


for “True knowledge and freedom are indissolubly linked 
together.” 

On Jefferson’s tombstone were inscribed, as he requested, 
the three things by which he wished to be remembered, 
— not his offices and honors, but that he wrote the 
Declaration of Independence and the Virginia statute for 
religious liberty and founded the University of Virginia. 

Erie Canal [1825]. — While Adams was president, the 
Erie Canal was completed. Extending from Buffalo to 
Albany, it makes water connection between the Great 
Lakes and the Atlantic. Before the Erie Canal was 
opened, it cost a hundred dollars to carry a ton of freight 
from Albany to Buffalo; soon after it was opened, it 
cost one-fifth that sum, and the price fell till it was only 
three or four dollars. The crops of the section brought 
better prices because it was easier and cheaper to send 
them to market. So much freight was carried down the 
canal and shipped from New York City that vessels, sure 
of cargoes of grain, lumber, etc., came there in preference 
to other ports ; New York became the largest and richest 
city in the Union. 

The Erie Canal gave a new highway to the West. Up 
to this time, the chief route had been the southern one 
through Cumberland Gap ; now, a route was opened at 
New England’s back door, and its hardy, energetic people 
sought new homes in the West and Northwest. 

Steam railways. — The year that the Erie Canal was 
finished, the first steam railway was built in England. 
George Stephenson, an English miner, had a few years 
before invented a locomotive, or “ traveling engine,” as 
he called it. Few people thought that it would ever 
furnish a useful means of conveyance, but Stephenson 
said : “ Railways will become the great highway for the 
king and all his subjects. The time is coming when it 


1830] 


THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC 


239 


will be cheaper for a working man to travel on a railway 
than on foot.” 


America with its great distances was prompt to adopt 
the invention and use ‘ steam coaches ’ and 4 steam wagons ’ 



An Eirly Railroad Train 


to carry passengers and freight. Five years after the first 
English railway, short lines were built in Maryland and in 
South Carolina [1830]. 

The first railroads had wooden rails to which strips of 
iron were fastened by spikes; these were usually laid on 
stone sleepers. The iron strips often came loose and 
curled up, causing accidents. Most of the first cars were 
drawn by horses and the steam cars ran only fifteen miles 
an hour. But, crude as they were, these railroads were 
a great benefit. They reduced the cost of travel and of 
carrying freight and united the sections of the country. 

Democrats and National Republicans. — During John 
Quincy Adams’s term, two parties were formed from the 
four factions into which the Democratic-Republicans had 
been divided in Monroe’s term. Two combined factions 
formed the Democratic party and the other two formed 
the National Republican party. Both parties disclaimed 
any kinship with the Federalists, but their views about the 
Constitution were held by the National Republicans and 





240 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1828 


by the northern branch of the Democratic party. At 
that time, party ties were loose, and the northern and 
southern branches of the same party were often very far 
apart. As a rule, northern men favored a protective 
tariff, the Bank, and internal improvements — such as 
building roads and canals and improving rivers and 
harbors — at national expense; like the Federalists, they 
gave the Elastic Clause of the Constitution as authority 
for their views. Most southern men, like Jefferson, 
interpreted the Elastic Clause strictly; they opposed the 
policies mentioned above and approved a low tariff “for 
revenue only,” — that is, only high enough to pay the 
expenses of the government. 

Tariff. —The protective tariff passed after the War of 
1812 was supposed to be a temporary measure. Instead 
of proving so, a new tariff act was passed a few years 
later, and then another which put higher taxes on woolen 
and cotton goods, iron, and other articles. This last act, 
nicknamed ‘the tariff of abominations,’ raised rates to 
nearly fifty per cent. Protests against it came especially 
from the South. Naturally, a protective tariff was favored 
by the northern states, which manufactured and sold goods. 
The southern states, which bought most of their manufac¬ 
tured goods, wished to buy them as cheap as possible and 
wanted a low tariff. 

Doctrine of Nullification. — Calhoun — in the name of 
his native state, South Carolina, and of the other southern 
states that were also by “ soil, climate, habits, and peculiar 
labor ” agricultural — protested against the high tariff. By 
“ the tyranny of the majority,” he said, it took money out 
of farmers’ pockets and put it into manufacturers’ pockets. 

If Congress passed a law which sacrificed the interests of 
a state, Calhoun said the state could nullify that law, — that 
is, forbid it to be executed within its limits. If three-fourths 


THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC 


241 


1828] 

of the states assembled in convention should declare that 
the law was constitutional, the objecting state must submit 
or leave the Union. Calhoun did not think that a state 
could continue to nullify a law and remain in the Union. 
Nullification, in his view, was an appeal to the supreme 
power of the states. This Doctrine of Nullification was 
no new one. It had been proclaimed by Kentucky 
against the Alien and Sedition Acts, and by New England 
in the Hartford resolutions against the War of 1812. But 
it was so clearly set forth by Calhoun and so vigorously 
acted upon by South Carolina that it has come to be 
regarded as the peculiar doctrine of that statesman and 
that state. 

Summary [1825-1829]. — John Quincy Adams of Massachusetts, the 
sixth president, served one term. The passage of the high tariff, called 
i the tariff of abominations, 1 led Calhoun of South Carolina to bring 
forward the Nullification Doctrine, asserting that a state could nullify a 
law which it considered unjust. 


9. Jackson’s Terms [1829-1837] 

Democratic 

President Jackson. — South Carolina had declared but 
not acted upon the Doctrine of Nullification when a new 
president came into office. This was Andrew Jackson, the 
hero of the battle of New Orleans. All the presidents be¬ 
fore him had been educated, high-bred gentlemen, and 
trained statesmen from the East. Jackson was the first 
man of the common people to attain that place; he was a 
backwoodsman who made his way upward and onward by 
force of will, character, and intellect. 

The son of a poor Irish emigrant, he was born in a log 
cabin in the Carolina backwoods, and when a boy of only 
thirteen, he fought in Marion’s band against the British. 


242 


SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [ifcg 



He emigrated to Tennessee and rose step by step, — 
farmer, lawyer, judge, general. At sixty*two, he became 

president. ‘Old Hick¬ 
ory,’ as his soldiers 
called him, was as 
notable in person as in 
character. Tall and 
slender, he bore him¬ 
self with dignity, even 
stiffness. His eyes 
were keen steel-blue; 
his face was long, nar¬ 
row, and sharp fea¬ 
tured ; his sandy red 
hair was growing white. 
Hot-tempered, stub¬ 
born, self-willed, preju¬ 
diced, he was, as his 
friends did not deny; 
even his enemies owned 
Andrew Jackson that he was fearless, 

patriotic, honest, honorable, pure in public and private 
life. 

‘Kitchen Cabinet.’ — Jackson’s cabinet was composed of 
prominent public men, but they were mere figureheads; 
he called them together, not to ask counsel, but to inform 
them what he intended to do. When he wished advice, he 
turned to a group of personal friends, nicknamed ‘the 
Kitchen Cabinet.’ 

Spoils System. — Jackson represented new views, a new 
order of things. The country, especially the strong young 
West, had grown more and more democratic. People were 
in favor of ‘rotation in office,’ especially in the putting out 
of office politicians who had been in a long time. Jackson 


THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC 


243 


1829] 

removed low and high officials, and put his friends in their 
places. He meant to carry out what he called “ the task of 
reform,” and he always claimed that no man was removed 
without just cause; but his friends easily persuaded him 



From “Historic Towns of Southern States,” used by permission of Messrs. G. P. Putnam’s Sons. 


Andrew Jackson’s Birthplace 

there was reason for removing men from desired offices. 

From the time of John Adams, the first party leader 
who became president, offices were filled with men belong¬ 
ing to the party in power, and it more and more came to be 
the custom to turn out opponents in order to make places 
for party men. This is called the Spoils System from the 
saying of a New York politician: “To the victors belong 
the spoils of the vanquished.” This practice of regarding 
and using public offices as the ‘victors’ spoils,’ rewards 
of party service instead of public trusts, has done more 
than any other one thing to corrupt American public life. 
The system is being checked by laws to reform civil service. 

Removal of Indian tribes to West. — About this time, 
several states east of the Mississippi took possession of 






244 


SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1828-42 


lands occupied by Indian tribes. The Creek chiefs of 
Georgia agreed to cede their lands and move to a reserva¬ 
tion in the West; but the tribesmen were so opposed to 
leaving their homes that they killed the chiefs who had 
signed the treaty. The Cherokees, also, refused to give 
up their lands. The federal court decided that the states 
had no right to take the land granted the Indians by govern¬ 
ment treaties, but President Jackson upheld the states and 
would not enforce the court’s decision. The tribes had to 
submit. They were moved to Indian Territory, some peace¬ 
ably, some by force. Cherokees still tell pitiful tales of the 
‘ great removal,’ when, like the Acadians, they were taken 
from their homes and carried to a strange region. A few 
escaped or made their way back to their old homes, where 
their descendants still live. 

The Sacs and Foxes refused to leave their homes in 
Wisconsin, and were moved West. Many returned, led 
by Black Hawk, their chief, but they were defeated and 
driven away. 

About fifty Seminole ‘braves’ of Florida, led by their 
chief, Osceola, retreated to the tangled swamps called 
everglades, and for seven years held their own against 
the power of the United States. The war to subdue the 
Seminoles cost twenty million dollars — four times the cost 
of the Florida territory. 

All the Indian tribes east of the Mississippi were finally 
moved to reservations in the West. 

Hayne-Webster debate. —While Jackson was president, 
two contrary views of the Union were set forth in a nota¬ 
ble debate in the Senate. The first speaker was Robert 
Y. Hayne of South Carolina. He said that the Constitu¬ 
tion was a compact, or contract, and the Union a free 
partnership from which any state could withdraw when it 
pleased. 


1830] 


THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC 


245 


Daniel Webster made a famous speech in reply to Hayne. 
Webster denied that the Constitution was a mere compact 
and the Union a partnership that could be dissolved. He 
said that the Union was a sovereign government which only 
revolution could dissolve and that the Constitution was its 
“ instrument of government.’’ He pleaded eloquently for 
“liberty and Union, now and forever, one and insepar¬ 
able.” 

Relations of states to Union. —The Virginia and Ken¬ 
tucky Resolutions against the Alien and Sedition Acts and 
the New England threats of secession when Louisiana was 
purchased and during the War of 1812, had been protested 
against as narrow, unwise, selfish. But no one had called 
them treason. No one of the statesmen who had aided to 
form the Constitution denied the sovereign power of a state 
nor claimed that the general government had supreme 
authority. Concession was made to reasonable demands, 
wise patience was shown with unreasonable ones, and so 
the Union was preserved. 

To the South, the Constitution and the Union were 
the same that they had been to all the states at first, — a 
compact and a partnership. The sovereign states had 
created the Union ; southern statesmen held that these 
states were still sovereign and supreme. But the view 
of the rest of the country was changing. By sentiment, 
by growth, by interest, by agreement, a new spirit had 
risen. In the western states, carved out of the public 
lands, the spirit of nationality was strong. These states 
naturally regarded the general government which had 
formed them as greater than themselves. In the North, 
too, a spirit of nationality was growing as the country was 
being bound together by railroads and united by wide¬ 
spread business and industrial interests. 

At a banquet in Washington, these two views were ex- 


2 4 6 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [183a 

pressed in a few words. President Jackson gave as his 
toast, “The federal union: it must and shall be preserved.” 
Calhoun offered the next toast, “The Union, next to our 
liberty the most dear ”; after a pause, he added, “ May 
we all remember that it can only be preserved by respect¬ 
ing the rights of the states and by distributing equally the 
benefits and burdens of the Union.” 

South Carolina’s Ordinance of Nullification [1832]. — The 
South thought that the tariff laws passed near the close of 
J. Q. Adams’s term distributed these benefits and burdens 
unequally. All the southern states protested against this 
high tariff. When no relief was obtained from the Demo¬ 
cratic Congress after Jackson became president, South 
Carolina made a notable protest. It held a convention that 
issued an Ordinance of Nullification, declaring the tariff 
acts “ null and void and no law, nor binding ” on the state. 

Jackson issued a proclamation declaring: “The laws of 
the United States must be executed. . . . Disunion by 
armed force is treason.” He sent naval forces to Charleston 
and ordered the army to be ready for service. Thereupon 
the governor of South Carolina called out the state militia. 

Compromise tariff of 1833. — Statesmen who thought 
the Union supreme and those who thought the state 
sovereign now united in efforts to avert the threatened 
conflict between a state and the federal .government. 
Henry Clay had been the great champion of the protective 
tariff, but he thought that, for the sake of harmony, the 
rates ought now to be lowered. He was told that if he 
favored lower rates he would lose the votes of men who 
wanted a high protective tariff and would lessen his 
chance of being elected president, — his life-long ambition. 

“ I had rather be right than be president,” he answered. 

A compromise was carried [1833], which was to lower 
rates so as to reach in ten years a 20% rate and form a 


1833] 


THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC 


247 

tax for revenue only. Thereupon, South Carolina repealed 
its Ordinance of Nullification. 

Bank of United States.—The twenty-year charter of 
the Bank of the United States was now about to expire. 
Many public men wished to renew the charter, because the 
bank gave the country a uniform currency and the gov¬ 
ernment a convenient agent for transacting its business. 
Among the friends of the bank were ‘ the great trio/ — Clay, 
Calhoun, and Webster. Jackson was bitterly opposed to 
the bank; he did not think that the Constitution gave 
Congress the right to establish it; he feared that it was 
not sound, and that it was or would become a political 
machine and control public affairs by means of money. 
Congress passed a bill renewing the bank’s charter, but 
Jackson vetoed it. He was the first president to make 
use of the veto power, in order to carry out his views in 
opposition to Congress. He ordered the public funds to 
be withdrawn from the Bank of the United States and 
distributed among state banks. For this he was censured 
by the Senate, but later the vote of censure was removed 
from the records of Congress. 

New states. — While Jackson was president, the country 
grew and prospered. Two new states were admitted, 
Arkansas [1836] and Michigan [1837]. 

Prosperity. — The debt of the republic was paid; the 
tariff brought in more money than the government needed 
for its expenses and the surplus was divided among the 
states. 

The United States were winning the respect of the 
world. A clever young Frenchman, De Tocqueville, who 
came over to examine American prison systems, wrote a 
famous book, Democracy in America. In it he said, “It is 
true that in the United States the people govern themselves 
and they govern well ”; he thought that one great cause 


248 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1829 


of their prosperity was that “ among the Americans all 
honest callings are honorable.” 

Inventions. — About this time, many useful inventions 
and labor-saving improvements were made. One of these 
was the friction match [1829]. Before matches were in¬ 
vented, it was so much trouble to start a fire with flint and 
tinder that people tried to keep fire in their houses all the 
time. Coals were covered with ashes in the fireplace; if 
these went out, often a child was sent to a neighbor to 
“borrow a shovelful of fire.” 

Another important invention was McCormick’s reaping 

machine drawn 
by horses [1834]. 
Up to this time, 
grain had been cut 
with a sickle or 
scythe, gathered in 
bundles and tied 
by hand. This was 
slow and tiresome 
work. By McCor¬ 
mick’s invention, 
horses and machin- 



McCormick’s First Reaper 


ery did the work of many human hands. At first, it was 
hard to persuade farmers to use the reaper, and for several 
years not one was sold. By degrees, people saw its ad¬ 
vantages, and now hundreds of thousands are used every 
year. Wonderful improvements have been made; there 
are great machines which cut, thresh, and bag grain ready 
for the mill. Mowing machines are used to cut hay, and 
horse-rakes and hayforks handle it and save much time 
and labor. 

Two important inventions were made a little later by 
which the work of women was lightened. One of these 



1840] 


THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC 


249 


was the iron cooking stove [1840] ; the other was the sew¬ 
ing machine, the ‘ iron needle woman/ invented by Elias 
Howe [1846]. The important part of 
his invention was putting the eye in the 
point of the needle, thus enabling a 
machine to replace the work of the 
hand. In the invention, manufacture, 
and use of improved tools, America 
has led the world. 

About this time, a Frenchman made 
an invention which has been the source 
of much pleasure and useful informa¬ 
tion. This was a way of taking pic¬ 
tures by exposing a sensitive plate to 
the sun. Many improvements have been made in the 
methods of photography, and they have been so simplified 
that even a child can use them. By means of photographs, 
we are made familiar with the people, buildings, and 
scenery of all parts of the world. 

Summary [1829-1837]. — Andrew Jackson of Tennessee, the 
seventh president, served two terms. While he was president, two 
new states were admitted, Arkansas and Michigan. Two Indian wars, 
the Black Hawk and the Seminole, were caused by the removal of 
Indian tribes to western reservations. South Carolina, dissatisfied 
with the high tariff, passed an Ordinance of Nullification; President 
Jackson threatened to enforce the law by arms, but Congress lowered 
the tariff rates, and this compromise avoided conflict between the state 
and federal governments. 

10. Van Buren’s Term [1837-1841] 
Democratic 

President Van Buren. — Martin Van Buren, who suc¬ 
ceeded Jackson, was our first president born an American, 
not a British subject. He was a ‘ slender little gentleman, 



Howe’s Original Sewing 
Machine 


250 


SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1837 


always courteous, always placid,’ with ability and firmness 
under a bland, gentle manner. 

Panic of 1837. — The year that Van Buren became presi¬ 
dent, the country suffered the worst financial panic it has 
ever known. There had been a period of great prosperity. 

The West was being developed 
rapidly, and many railroads 
were being built. People carried 
on business on credit and by 
means of paper money issued 
by state banks. So many of 
these banks were unsafe that 
President Jackson, near the end 
of his second term, issued a 
‘ specie circular,’ ordering gov¬ 
ernment agents to take only coin 
in payment for public lands. 
This circular was “ the pin which 
pricked the bubble of speculation.” People everywhere 
followed the government’s example and demanded gold 
and silver instead of paper money. Banks did not have 
coin to pay their notes, and so had to shut their doors; 
among those that failed were many ‘pet banks’ in which 
government money was deposited. 

Men could not collect money due them nor pay their 
own debts. Mills and factories closed. Thousands of 
people were out of money and out of work. A poor crop 
year, making provisions scarce and high, added to the wide¬ 
spread distress. The poor suffered for food, and there 
were bread riots in New York City. Even states were 
bankrupt; and the general government, which not long 
before had been dividing money among the states, now 
needed funds for its own expenses. 

Many people thought that the government could help 




THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC 


1&37) 


2St 


matters by issuing paper money and reestablishing the 
Bank of the United States. But President Van Buren 
thought that the government would do harm by meddling, 
and that the only real relief would be that which would 
come by degrees from the use of sound business methods. 
Gradually matters improved and prosperity returned. 

Independent Treasury plan. — One good result of the 
panic of 1837 was that government money was removed 
from private banks. By Van Buren’s Independent Treas¬ 
ury or Sub-treasury plan, the government took charge 
of its own funds. Instead of being deposited in banks, 
these funds were kept in the treasury at Washington and 
in branches called sub-treasuries in other cities. 

Mormons. — About this time, a religious sect called 
Mormons, or Latter Day Saints, attracted serious attention. 
It was founded by Joseph Smith of New York, who said 
that an angel appeared to him and told him where to find 
a golden plate containing a revelation from heaven, the 
‘ Book of Mormon.’ Later, Smith said that he was in¬ 
spired to tell good Mormons that they might practice 
polygamy, — that is, have several wives at once. The 
Mormons laid out a city in Illinois and built a temple. 
The sect was disliked by the people of the neighborhood ; 
it was attacked by a mob and ‘ Prophet ’ Smith was killed. 

The Mormons resolved to move West and make a settle¬ 
ment of their own,. where polygamy could be practiced. 
Their leader was Brigham Young, one of their ‘ Twelve 
Apostles.’ They went West in bands, crossing the prairie 
and the arid plains from which people had been held back 
by lack of wood, water, and food. They crossed the 
Rocky Mountains — then the western boundary of the 
United States — settled on territory which belonged to 
Mexico, and founded Salt Lake City. They irrigated the 
land and made the desert a garden. 


252 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1B41 

Religious revivals. —This was a period of great religious 
revivals throughout the country. Most of these were led by 
earnest, uneducated men who urged people to make ‘ per¬ 
sonal peace with God,’ and live better lives. Sunday schools, 
missionary societies, Young Men’s and Women’s Christian 
Associations, and other religious unions were organized. 

Harrison elected president. — Many men in as well as out 
of President Jackson’s party disapproved his policies, 
especially his action about the United States Bank; his 
proclamation against nullification and secession drove from 
his party many southern States’ Rights men. A new 
party called Whig was formed, composed of men unlike in 
views and policies, but united in their opposition to Jackson. 
The Whigs could not agree upon measures and nominated 
and elected without a platform William Henry Harrison, 
a hero of Indian fights and of the War of 1812. 

Summary [1837-1841].—Martin Van Buren of New York, the 
eighth president, served one term. The chief events of his term were 
the financial panic of 1837 and the adoption of the Independent Treas¬ 
ury plan by which the government took charge of its own money. 

11. Harrison and Tyler’s Term [1841-1845] 

Whig 

Harrison’s death [April4,1841].—President Harrison died 
one month after his inauguration, and was succeeded by John 
Tyler, the first vice-president to hold the office of president. 

Tyler was one of the men who had left the Democratic 
party on account of its policy under Jackson. He believed 
in States’ Rights and disapproved a high tariff and the 
Bank of the United States. The faction of the Whig 
party which wished to pass a protective tariff and to re¬ 
establish the Bank of the United States was strong enough 
in Congress to pass these measures, but Tyler vetoed them. 
The Whigs succeeded, however, in passing an act which 


1842] 


THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC 


253 


upset the Compromise Tariff made ten years before; 
instead of being reduced to twenty per cent, as had been 
agreed, the duty was raised to thirty-five per cent. 

Dorrs Rebellion [1842]. — While Tyler was president, 
there were insurrections 
in Rhode Island and in ill! 

New York. 

According to the 
Rhode Island law, only 
property-owners could 
vote. This caused dis¬ 
satisfaction and finally 
a rebellion led by 
Thomas Dorr. The re¬ 
bellion was put down, 
but soon afterward a 
new constitution was 
adopted, extending the 
suffrage. 

Anti-rent Riots [ 1844]. 

— In New York, tenants 
refused to pay rents to the patroon owners. These rents 
were usually small, — some fowls, a few days’ work, a few 
dollars for each hundred acres of land. At last, the land¬ 
lords sold their claims, and the old patroon system came to 
an end. 

Maine boundary [1842].—The boundary between Maine 
and Canada had been in dispute ever since the Revolution. 
It was settled during Tyler’s term by a treaty in which 
both America and Great Britain made compromises. 

Oregon Country. — The western boundary was still un¬ 
settled. Both Great Britain and the United States claimed 
the region called the Oregon Country, lying between 
Mexico and Alaska. For about twenty-five years, the 



John Tyler 




254 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1842 


Oregon Country was held as neutral ground. People in 
the eastern states knew little of this region. The maps of 
the time called the western country ‘ the Great American 
Desert,’ because it was thought to be a barren waste, 
like the Desert of Sahara. Webster asked, “ What do 
we want with this vast worthless area, this region of 
savages and wild beasts, of deserts of shifting sands and 
whirlwinds of dust, of cactus, and prairie dogs?” But 
settlers, with their rifles, axes, and plows, went to the 
Oregon Country, made homes there, and claimed the 



The Oregon Trail 


whole region for the United States. The popular cry 
was “fifty-four forty or fight,” — 54 0 40' being the southern 
boundary of Alaska. 

Florida admitted to Union [1845].—While Tyler was 
president, Florida was made a state, and Texas asked to 
be admitted into the Union. 

Texan War for Independence [1836]. — Texas had been 
Spanish territory, but it rebelled against Spain and became 
a state of the Mexican republic. Thousands of American 








i8 3 6 ] 


THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC 


255 


emigrants went to the fertile, well-watered country and 
settled there to trade, raise cotton, and herd cattle. Find¬ 
ing the government of Mexico harsh and unjust, they de¬ 
clared their independence and formed the Republic of 
Texas. Samuel Houston, a brave, able, adventurous man, 
was made president of the young republic. 

A Mexican army of several thousand men took the field 
to crush the revolt, and attacked the Alamo, a fortified 
convent near San Antonio. The Alamo was defended 
bravely by two hundred Texans until only six were left ; 
these were killed after they surrendered. At Goliad, five 
hundred Texans were massacred after they had given up 
their arms. Instead of being daunted by this severity, the 
Texans were roused to desperate resistance. “Remem¬ 
ber the Alamo” was their fierce cry in the battle of San 
Jacinto. In this battle, eight hundred Texans, armed with 
rifles and bowie knives, defeated a Mexican army of 1600 
men. They killed or wounded over half the Mexicans, 
and took prisoner the others, including the general, Santa 
Anna. The Texan loss was only six killed and twenty- 
five wounded. Soon after this battle, the independence of 
Texas was acknowledged by the United States and by 
European nations. 

Texas annexed to United States.— 

The Texans were really only ‘Americans 
across the border,’ and they asked to 
have their ‘ Lone Star State ’ made one of 
the United States. The South was in 
favor of granting this request; it did « Lone star" Flag 
not wish the vast fertile country to 
form a separate republic in the southwest; it wished to 
add it to the Union as a slave state to balance northern 
free territory. The North opposed the admission of 
Texas, because it was a slave state and because its annexa- 


teisi 









256 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1844 

tion would probably cause war with Mexico which refused 
to acknowledge its independence. 

The question about Texas was made the chief issue 
in the next presidential campaign. The Democrats 
declared in favor of annexing Texas and of occupying 
the Oregon Country. Their candidate, James Knox 
Polk of Tennessee, defeated the Whig candidate, Henry 
Clay, and Texas was annexed. 

Invention of telegraph. — The tidings of Polk’s nomina¬ 
tion was the first news message sent by telegraph. Samuel 

Morse had been working many 
years to utilize as a news car¬ 
rier the force of electricity 
which passes almost instanta¬ 
neously along copper wire. 
Through ridicule, discourage¬ 
ment, and poverty, he perse¬ 
vered, and at last he made the 
wire carry a message and in¬ 
vented an instrument to receive 
it. He secured from Congress 
an appropriation of $30,000 
for a telegraph line between 
Baltimore and Washington. 

Morse’s First Instrument Many people opposed this ; 

one Congressman said that 
they might as well appropriate $30,000 to construct a rail¬ 
road to the moon. The line was put up [1844], and it 
worked perfectly. Side by side with the railroad, the 
telegraph extended over the country, carrying news, pro¬ 
moting trade, binding sections together, increasing the 
growth and prosperity of the Union. 

Other inventions and reforms. — This was a period of 
advance in many ways. The rotary printing press was 




























THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC 


1847 ] 


257 


invented, by which the number and cheapness of publica¬ 
tions were greatly increased. 

One of the world’s greatest medical discoveries was that 
of anesthesia; rendering persons insensible to pain, anes¬ 
thetics relieve and prevent suffering and have made pos¬ 
sible the wonderful modern advance in surgery. It had 
been known for some time that ether could produce insen¬ 
sibility, but Dr. Crawford Long was the first physician 
who used it [1842] to prevent the pain of an operation. 

Laws were made less harsh. People were indignant 
at the hardships caused by the laws against poor debtors; 
for instances, a Revolutionary soldier was kept in jail 
seven years for a debt of a few dollars, and in his old 
age the patriot Robert Morris was thrown into a debtor’s 
prison. One state after another passed laws releasing 
debtors who could not pay. The condition of jails and 
penitentiaries was improved. Homes were established for 
the deaf, dumb, and blind. A noble woman, Dorothea 
Dix, persuaded people that it was their duty to care for the 
insane in hospitals instead of confining them in jails. 
Temperance and total abstinence societies were formed. 
The Maine law was passed, forbidding the manufacture 
and sale of intoxicating liquors in that state. 

The condition of workmen was improved. In mills and 
factories, the working day had been fourteen, fifteen, or 
even sixteen hours long. A ten-hour system was adopted, 
first in Baltimore, then in other places. 

Education. — Many improvements were made in the 
public schools established to teach and train the children 
who were to control the future of the republic. Horace 
Mann of Massachusetts and Henry Barnard of Connecticut 
were two leaders in this work for education. They urged 
the building of good schools and the establishing of normal 
schools to train teachers. 


s 


258 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1847 


Immigrants. — This time of prosperity in America was a 
period of distress in many parts of Europe. There were 
crop failures and revolutions. People came by thousands 
and hundreds of thousands to seek food and freedom in 
America. These immigrants were chiefly from the north 
of Europe, — Irish, Germans, Swedes, Norwegians,— 
people of the same stock as the Americans. Few of these 
immigrant laborers went to the South, where they would 
have had to compete with slave labor. Instead, they 
settled in the cities of the North and on the farms of the 
West, where they found good work and good wages. They 
learned the language and habits of our people, loved their 
adopted country, and became good citizens. To them, the 
Union was one country like their native nations, and they 
aided to build up the spirit of nationality. 

Summary [1841-1845].—William Henry Harrison of Ohio, the 
ninth president, died one month after his inauguration. The tenth 
president, John Tyler of Virginia, was the first vice-president who 
became president. During his term, Florida became a state, and Texas, 
which had won its independence from Mexico, was annexed to the 
Union. The dispute with Great Britain about the Maine boundary was 
settled by compromise. There was a rebellion, called Dorr’s Rebellion, 
in Rhode Island and Anti-rent Riots in New York. This was a period 
of invention and reform. The electric telegraph was perfected, the 
rotary printing press was invented, hospitals and insane asylums were 
established, temperance societies were formed, and schools were im¬ 
proved. Immigration to America greatly increased. 

12. Polk’s Term: The War with Mexico [1845-1849] 
Democratic 

Oregon boundary. — When Polk became president, he 
faced the prospect of two wars: with England over the 
Oregon Country and with Mexico about.Texas. The first 
was avoided by a treaty in which both countries made 


i8 4 6 ] 


THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC 


259 


concessions. It was agreed [1846] that the parallel 49 0 , 
which was the boundary between American and British 
territory from the Lake of the 
Woods to the Rocky Moun¬ 
tains, should be the boundary 
westward to the Pacific. This 
gave to Great Britain the 
northern part of the dis¬ 
puted territory; it gave to the 
United States the southern 
part, from which have been 
formed the states of Oregon, 

Washington, Idaho, and parts 
of Wyoming and Montana. 

War with Mexico. — War be¬ 
tween the United States and 
Mexico followed the annexation of the southern republic. 

Mexico refused to 
acknowledge the 
independence of 
Texas. Moreover, 
there was a bound¬ 
ary dispute; Texas 
claimed the Rio 
Grande River as its 
southern line, Mex¬ 
ico said that the 
Nueces River was 
the boundary. Mex¬ 
ico was in no condi¬ 
tion to fight. Its 
affairs were in dis¬ 
order ; it had an 
empty treasury and 




James K. Polk 







260 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1846 


poor generals. Its soldiers were brave, but they were un¬ 
trained, “poorly clothed, worse fed, and seldom paid,” ob¬ 
served a young American officer, Lieutenant U. S. Grant. 

Taylor’s campaign. —When American troops under Gen¬ 
eral Zachary Taylor were sent to occupy the disputed 
territory between the Rio Grande and Nueces rivers, the 
Mexicans, too, sent forward troops, and a skirmish took 
place [April 26, 1846]. As soon as news of this fight 
reached the American government, war was declared 
against Mexico. Meanwhile, two battles had been fought 
near the Rio Grande. The Americans won a victory on 



General Taylor at the Battle of Buena Vista 


the plains of Palo Alto [May 8] and another the next 
day in the ravine of Resaca de la Palma [May 9]. Then 
General Taylor crossed the Rio Grande and gained control 
of the northern part of Mexico. 






1847] 


THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC 


261 


Battle of Buena Vista.—Troops were withdrawn from 
General Taylor’s army for a southern campaign, and he 
was left at Buena Vista with about 5000 men. General 
Santa Anna marched against him with an army of 20,000 
men and summoned him to surrender. 

“ General Taylor never surrenders,” was the answer. 

The little American army was skillfully placed on broken 
ground, protected by cliffs on the one side and ravines on 
the other. For two days [February 22, 23, 1847] the 
Mexican army attacked the little force, but was beaten 
off. The gallant charge of the Mississippi rifles led by 
Colonel Jefferson Davis, aided by the artillery under 
Captain Bragg and Lieutenant Sherman, compelled the 
Mexicans to retreat. 

Seizure of New Mexico and California [1846]. — The 

campaign in northern Mexico was followed by two others: 
one in the Southwest, the other in the heart of Mexico. 

General Stephen Kearny made an eight-hundred-mile 
march from Kansas to Santa Fe, and without firing a 
shot took possession of New Mexico in the name of the 
United States. He then went on to California. This had 
already been wrested from Mexico by a few hundred 
Americans who had settled there, attracted by the fertile 
soil, mild climate, and fine harbor. As soon as these men 
heard that war was going on, they formed the Bear Flag 
Republic and declared themselves independent of Mexico. 
They were aided by a little American fleet, and by Captain 
John C. Fremont who had been sent West to explore the 
passes of the Rocky Mountains. The vast, thinly-settled 
country along the Pacific coast was seized for the United 
States. 

March to Mexico [1847]. — An American army of 10,000 
men under General Winfield Scott made a brilliant cam¬ 
paign in Mexico. It began by taking the city of Vera 


262 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE (i«47 


Cruz [March 29]. Santa Anna’s army was strongly posted 
in the mountain pass of Cerro Gordo. Two young Ameri¬ 
can engineers — Colonel R. E. Lee and Lieutenant G. P. 
Beauregard — opened a road through the mountains, 
along which the army marched and attacked the Mexicans 
from the rear [April 18]. The Mexicans were defeated 
and retreated, and for some weeks there was no more 
fighting. 

Then the Americans climbed the mountains and made 
their way across the hilly table-land, through the heart of 
the enemy’s country. There were so many forts along 
the highway that the Americans turned aside and cut 
new roads across the rough country. In August, they 
came to a height of the Cordilleras and looked down on 
the valley of Mexico, surrounded by mountains with peaks 
shining snow-capped in the distance. In this beautiful 
valley lies the City of Mexico. It occupies a strong 
natural position on an island in what was once a lake but 
is now a great marsh; the marsh is crossed by narrow 
causeways, the entrances to which are protected by for¬ 
tresses. 

When the Americans were about ten miles from the 
City of Mexico, fighting began again. From the middle 
of August to the middle of September, victory followed 
victory, — Contreras, San Antonio, Churubusco, Molina 
del Rey, Chapultepec. Two days after the commanding 
fortress of Chapultepec was taken, the American army 
entered the capital city [September 13]. 

Results of War with Mexico. — The United States dic¬ 
tated their own terms of peace to their defeated neighbor 
[1848]. Mexico agreed to the Rio Grande as the boundary 
of Texas and ceded to the United States for the sum of 
$18,500,000 the territory that they had seized. This terri¬ 
tory was almost equal in extent to the great Louisiana 





































































































tr 

CC B 



« a, 

H «? 
^ S 
22 o 

5 * 

c? s 

6 o 


2 

Hj *3 

- r 

g 2 

O 5 
H * 

ca S 

cs £ 


a 

H 

















































1848] 


THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC 


263 


Territory; out of it were formed Texas, California, New 
Mexico, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, and parts of Colorado and 
Wyoming. 

Among the young officers who gained military experience 
and training in the War with Mexico, were Lieutenant U. S. 
Grant, Lieutenant W. T. Sherman, Captain George Mc¬ 
Clellan, Captain J. E. Johnston, Colonel Albert Sidney 
Johnston, Colonel Robert E. Lee, and Colonel Jefferson 
Davis. Alas! these Americans, fighting so bravely side 
by side, were a few years later to fight as bravely against 
each other, in the great War of Secession. 

New territory brought forward the old question of 
slavery. While the War with Mexico was going on, David 
Wilmot of Pennsylvania urged in Congress a measure 
called the Wilmot Proviso [1846]. This forbade slavery 
in all the territory acquired from Mexico. The proviso 
was not carried, and for some time the question was un¬ 
decided, the North contending that the newly-acquired 
territory should be free and the South desiring it to be 
slave territory. 

New states.—While Polk was president, three new 
states were admitted,—Texas [1845], Iowa [1846], and 
Wisconsin [1848]. There were now fifteen free states 
and fifteen slave states. 

Summary [1845-1849]. — James Knox Polk of Tennessee, the 
eleventh president, served one term. While he was president, three 
new states were admitted, — Texas, Iowa, and Wisconsin. The annex¬ 
ation of Texas caused war with Mexico. The Americans made three 
successful campaigns: first, General Taylor marched against northern 
Mexico and defeated the Mexicans in several battles; second, General 
Kearny seized New Mexico, and California was taken possession of; 
third. General Scott marched from Vera Cruz to the City of Mexico, 
winning brilliant victories on the way. By the War with Mexico, the 
United States gained a vast increase of territory and the control of the 
Pacific coast. For the ceded territory, it paid Mexico $18,500,000. 


CHAPTER VI 


DISCORD, SECESSION, AND WAR 




i. Taylor and Fillmore’s Term [1849-1853] 

Whig 

President Taylor. — The next president was General 
Zachary Taylor. ‘Old Rough and Ready,’ as he was 

nicknamed, was a pop¬ 
ular soldier who had 
never taken any part in 
politics. 

“ I have no private 
purpose to accomplish,” 
he said, “ no party proj¬ 
ects to build up, no 
enemies to punish, — 
nothing to serve but 
my country.” In the 
campaign in which Tay¬ 
lor was elected, neither 
of the great parties took 
a decided stand on the 
slavery question. But 
events forced its prompt 
consideration in connection with the organization of the 
Mexican cession. 

Discovery of gold in California [1848]. — The month that 
the treaty of peace with Mexico was made, gold was dis- 

264 


(gt , 

. '• *|*. 

V I 

V 


7v 


* • *. 


. - 

: 

: v- ■* • 


Zachary Taylor 



i8 4 9.i DISCORD, SECESSION, AND WAR 265 

covered in California. It was found by an American laborer 
who was digging a mill race on a branch of the Sacramento 
River. The news spread like wildfire through the adjoining 
country, and there was a rush to the gold regions. Farm¬ 
ers left their fields, tradesmen their shops, sailors their 
ships, to dig for gold. 

The news reached the eastern states late that fall. 
Early the next spring, thousands of men started to Cali¬ 
fornia. It was a long, toilsome, dangerous journey. 
There was not a mile of railroad west of the Mississippi 
River; there were not even roads across the continent. 
Some adventurers followed by ship the long route around 
South America. Some crossed the fever-infested isthmus 
of Central America and made their way by land or water up 
the coast. Others — on foot, on horseback, in wagons — 
crossed the arid plains and the steep mountains occupied 
only by wild beasts and hostile Indians. Many were killed 
by these foes or perished for lack of food and water. In 
spite of all difficulties, about 80,000 men reached the gold 
fields that year. Of these famous ‘ Forty Niners/ as they 
are called, some gained great fortunes and many died in 
poverty. 

Vast quantities of gold were obtained in dust and 
nuggets. Some of these nuggets were as large as an 
acorn, a walnut, or an egg. Ore, or * dust/ was used for 
money; miners carried scales and paid their debts with 
gold at the rate of sixteen dollars an ounce. Food was 
less plentiful than gold. Potatoes and eggs sold readily 
for one dollar each, flour was a hundred dollars a barrel. 

After the surface gold was exhausted, mining companies 
were organized. In course of time, men turned to agri¬ 
culture, and developed the rich resources of the region. 

Pony express. — A pony express was established to 
carry mail from Missouri to California, charging five dollars 


266 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1849 


for each letter or small package. The trip from St. 
Joseph to San Francisco, 2000 miles away, was made 

in ten or even 
in eight days. 
A man on a 
stout pony raced 
from one station 
to another fif¬ 
teen miles away. 
There the bag 
was slung on a 
fresh horse, and 
in two minutes 
the rider was 
galloping on his 
way to the next station, where another man on a fresh 
horse took charge of the bag. In sunshine, in storm, 
across the plains, over the mountains, the pony express 
sped on its way. 

California applies for statehood. — Before Congress de¬ 
cided on what terms to organize the territory of California, 
its settlers were numerous enough to wish to form a state. 
President Taylor advised them to draw up a constitution 
and apply for admission. They promptly did this and 
asked to be admitted as a free state. The North wished 
to admit California on these terms. The South opposed it, 
urging that, since much of California lies south of 36° 30', 
this would set aside the Missouri Compromise. 

Northern attitude to slavery. — Slavery was a moral and 
political question on which the North and the South 
honestly differed. There was growing, especially in New 
England, a strong feeling against slavery in the South. 
Within a few years, 2000 northern societies were formed 
for the abolition of slavery. 



Pony Express 





i8so] DISCORD, SECESSION, AND WAR 267 

The leader of the Abolitionist party was William Lloyd 
Garrison, the publisher of a paper called the Liberator. 
Garrison thought that slave-owners were no better than 
so many robbers and murderers. He proposed that 
Massachusetts should lead a movement of the free states 
to withdraw from the Union and to form a republic sepa¬ 
rate from the slave states. Because the Constitution 
recognized slaves as property and protected the owners of 
this property, Garrison publicly burned it, calling it “ a 
covenant with death and an agreement with hell.” 

There was a more moderate party, called anti-slavery 
men; they thought that outsiders had no right to interfere 
with slavery in the states where it was established, but 
they wished to prevent its spread in the territories. 

In the free states, there was a growing disposition to 
disregard or evade the Fugitive Slave Law which re¬ 
quired that runaway slaves be returned to their masters 
on demand. For years, individuals had more or less 
openly disobeyed this law. There was an organization of 
several thousand persons who received and hid slaves, 
passing them by night from one place to another into free 
states and even into Canada. Thousands of' slaves 
escaped by means of this “ underground railroad,” as it 
was called. 

Southern view. — The southern people considered slaves 
lawful property and regarded the Abolitionists’ plans to 
free them as men to-day would regard plans to deprive 
them of their land. Men who disagreed with Garrison in 
everything else thought that it would be well for the free 
and the slave states to separate. Calhoun said in his last 
speech in the Senate, “ If you who represent the stronger 
portion cannot agree to settle the great questions at issue 
on the broad principles of justice and duty, say so; and let 
the states we both represent agree to separate and depart 
in peace.” 


268 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1850 


Slavery was an evil, but it was not without redeeming 
features; the negroes were trained in habits of industry, 
taught trades, and governed firmly but not unkindly. 
There were some cruel masters, but as a rule the negroes 
were better fed and clothed than the laboring classes in 
most countries, and the sick, children, and aged were 
cared for. A northerner who examined the system care¬ 
fully said: “ On principle, in habit, and even on grounds 
of self-interest, the greater part of the slave-owners were 
humane in the treatment of their slaves, — kind, indulgent, 
not over-exacting.” 

Most people who looked at the matter without passion 
or prejudice thought that slavery was a disadvantage to the 
South. It seemed impossible to establish manufactures or 
to introduce improved methods of agriculture, requiring 
expensive tools and machinery, where the laborers were 
ignorant, unskilled slaves. The South’s natural resources 
were neglected, its trade and manufactures passed into other 
hands. In wealth and population, it fell behind other parts 
of the country. Immigrant laborers avoided it and flocked 
to the free states. Some other civilized peoples had re¬ 
cently abolished slavery, and if let alone the South would, 
of its own accord, have put an end to the system, prob¬ 
ably by degrees. 

Compromise of 1850. — It was evident that only by steering 
between extremes would it be possible to preserve the 
Union in peace. Clay, now a feeble old man, left his Ken¬ 
tucky home and returned to public life to make a final 
effort to keep peace between the sections. For the third 
time, he suggested compromise measures, urging both sec¬ 
tions to make concessions in order to settle the slavery 
question and preserve the Union. He was aided by Cal¬ 
houn and Webster. For the last time, * the great trio ’ met 
in Congress and labored to secure the country’s welfare. 


1850] 


DISCORD, SECESSION, AND WAR 


269 


Calhoun pleaded for the preservation of the Union ; he urged 
the North to “cease the agitation of the slavery question.” 
Webster said that according to the Constitution it was the 
right of southern states to hold slaves as property and the 
duty of northern ones to surrender fugitive slaves. If 
the North disregarded the Constitution, the South could not 
be expected to obey it; a bargain cannot be broken by one 
side and still bind the other. 

For seven months, compromise measures were discussed 
in Congress, and at last ‘the Compromise of 1850’ was 
adopted. The slave trade in the District of Columbia was 
abolished, and California was admitted as a free state. 
On the other hand, it was agreed that two territories, 
Utah and New Mexico, should be formed out of the re¬ 
mainder of the Mexican cession, which should be open to 
slavery; the Fugitive Slave 
Law was to be enforced 
by Federal officers. 

Death of notable men. — 

While these compromise 
measures were being dis¬ 
cussed, death removed two 
of the foremost public men 
of the country, Calhoun of 
South Carolina and Presi¬ 
dent Taylor. Taylor was 
succeeded by the vice pres¬ 
ident, Millard Fillmore of 
New York. Two years 
later [1852], there passed 
away the last great states¬ 
men of the compromise period, Clay and Webster. Into 
the place of the old leaders stepped younger men, many 
of whom were animated by strong sectional feeling,— 









270 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1852 


Salmon P. Chase of Ohio, Jefferson Davis of Mississippi, 
William H. Seward of New York, Charles Sumner of 
Massachusetts. 

Personal liberty laws. — It was soon evident that the 
Compromise of 1850 settled nothing. Attempts to enforce 
the Fugitive Slave Law in the free states caused disputes 
and riots; officers and slave-owners were attacked and 
killed, and slaves were set free. Many northern states 
passed laws, called ‘ personal liberty bills,’ to protect run¬ 
away slaves; southern states complained that these laws 
really nullified, or set aside, the law of the Constitution. 

Uncle Tom's Cabin. — The very year that Clay, the great 
peacemaker, died, there was published a book which did 
more than the writings of Garrison to excite hostility 
against slavery and the Fugitive Slave Law. This was 
Uncle Tom s Cabin , by Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe. Hun¬ 
dreds of thousands of copies were sold in the United 
States, and it was translated into many languages. It 
was a romance, full of humor and pathos, about slave life. 
It was accepted by Abolitionists as a true picture of negro 
life and character and of the system of slavery. In vain 
temperate men on both sides pointed to the facts in the case, 
and showed that the story did not truly represent these. 

Summary [1849-1853].—Zachary Taylor of Tennessee was the 
twelfth president. The year that California was ceded to the United 
States, gold was discovered there. People rushed to the gold fields, 
and the country was soon populous enough to apply for statehood, 
requesting to be admitted as a free state. After much discussion, the 
Compromise of 1850 was adopted. The slave trade in the District of 
Columbia was abolished, and California was admitted as a free state; 
the remainder of the Mexican cession was left open to slavery, and the 
Fugitive Slave Law was to be enforced by Federal officers. While this 
compromise was being discussed, President Taylor died. Millard Fill¬ 
more of New York was the thirteenth president and the second vice 
president to hold the office. 


DISCORD, SECESSION, AND WAR 


271 


1853] 


2. Pierce’s Term [1853-1857] 

Democratic 

Franklin Pierce. — Franklin Pierce of New Hampshire, 
the next president, was an earnest, hard-working man of 
attractive manners, but without great ability. 

Treaties with China and Japan. — While Pierce was 
president, Commodore 
Matthew Perry made an 
expedition to Japan and 
secured a treaty [1853], 
by which American ships 
were allowed to enter two 
ports of Japan. Some 
years before [1844], a 
treaty had been made with 
China, by which five Chi¬ 
nese ports were opened 
to American trade. 

Gadsden Purchase [1853]. — While trade and power 
were being extended, new territory was being added. 
In order to settle a boundary dispute, the United States 
bought from Mexico a tract of land south of the Gila River, 
containing about 45,000 square miles. Ten million dollars 
was paid for it. This is called ‘ the Gadsden Purchase’ from 
the name of the statesman who negotiated the transaction. 

Kansas-Nebraska Bill [1854]. — The question of slave 
and free territory was being discussed with ever-increasing 
bitterness. Most people approved the Missouri Compro¬ 
mise. The Abolitionists disliked it because they wished the 
government to prohibit slavery everywhere. Some states¬ 
men disapproved the Missouri Compromise because they 
thought it contrary to the law of the Constitution; as the 
Constitution recognized slave property, they said, the gov- 



272 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1854 


ernment had no more right to shut slaves out of territories 
than to forbid men to carry watches or any other property. 

Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois suggested that slavery 
be settled by popular sovereignty, or ‘squatter sovereignty,’ 
as it was called. According to this plan, communities would 
deal with slavery as they now, through local option, deal with 
the liquor question; this had been practically done in the 
case of California. Douglas proposed that the prairie region, 
called ‘the Platte Country,’ should be organized into two terri¬ 
tories, Kansas and Nebraska, and that the people of these 
territories should decide for themselves the matter of slavery. 

The Kansas-Nebraska Bill was passed. Many men ob¬ 
jected to it because it set aside the Missouri Compromise 
and opened to slavery territories north of 36° 30'; others 
said that the Missouri Compromise was really set aside 
when California, much of which lies south of 36° 30', was 
admitted as a free state. 

Contest in Kansas. — Nebraska was so far north and so 
thinly settled that slave-holders made little effort to estab¬ 
lish themselves there; but Kansas at once became a scene 
of contest. Abolitionists contributed money and sent bands 
of immigrants to make it a free state. Slave-holders settled 
there to make it a slave state. Men of one party tried to 
drive out men of the other. There were quarrels, fights, 
and riots; houses and towns were burned; people were 
murdered in their own homes. The motto of the lawless 
men on both sides was “ War to the knife and the knife 
to the hilt.” 

New political parties. — While this struggle was going on 
in ‘ bleeding Kansas,’ a presidential election took place. 
Two new parties put forward candidates. One was the 
American party that wished to keep the ballot and offices 
from foreigners; its members, when asked about its plans, 
so often answered “ I don’t know,” that it was called the 


1856] 


DISCORD, SECESSION, AND WAR 


273 


Know Nothing party. The other new party was the Re¬ 
publican ; its main principle was opposition to the intro¬ 
duction of slavery into the territories. The Democrats 
declared in favor of ‘ popular sovereignty,’ — that is, of 
letting the people of territories decide the question of 
slavery for themselves, — and elected their candidate, 
James Buchanan of Pennsylvania. 

Summary [1853-1857]. — Franklin Pierce of New Hampshire, the 
fourteenth president, served one term. While he was president, the Kan- 
sas-Nebraska Bill was passed, by which the Missouri Compromise was set 
aside and the decision of the question of slavery was left to the people 
of the territories. A tract called ‘ the Gadsden Purchase’ was bought 
from Mexico for $10,000,000, in order to settle a boundary dispute. 

3. Buchanan’s Term [1857-1861] 

Democratic 

Panic of 1857. — The spring that Buchanan became 
president, all parties united 
in Congress to reduce the 
tariff. Before the new rates 
could take effect, there was 
a serious business depres¬ 
sion. As before the panic 
of 1837, a period of pros¬ 
perity had led to speculation 
and reckless credit. A re¬ 
action came. Banks sus¬ 
pended payment, railroads 
failed, thousands of busi¬ 
ness men were bankrupt, 
trade and manufactures 
were at a standstill. 

Natural resources. — Prosperity returned by degrees. 
Crops were abundant and there could not be long-continued 

T, 



James Buchanan 


274 


SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1857 


hard times in a country so rich in natural resources and 
energetic people. The gold mines of California continued 
to yield vast wealth, and gold was discovered in Colorado 
and in Montana. Rich deposits of silver were found in 
Nevada and later in Colorado, Utah, and Arizona. There 
were valuable lead, coal, and copper mines in the West. 
The rich coal and iron mines of the East were worked. 
Oil wells were sunk in Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio, and 
West Virginia. These wells produced daily thousands of 
barrels of petroleum of which kerosene is a refined form. 
Later natural gas was discovered and used extensively 
for lighting and heating. 

Atlantic Cable [1858]. — Commodore Matthew F. Maury, 
‘the pathfinder of the sea,’ thought that an under-ocean 
telegraph could be established by laying a cable on the 
flat ocean bed between Ireland and Newfoundland. At 
his suggestion, Cyrus Field undertook to lay this Atlantic 
cable. After repeated failures, the task was accomplished, 
and Queen Victoria and President Buchanan exchanged 
telegraphic greetings. The cable soon ceased to work 
and again failure followed failure. Mr. Field devoted his 
time and money to the attempt to perfect the ocean-tele¬ 
graph and at last succeeded. Now, by means of these 
cables, the nations of the world are bound together in one 
community. 

Literature. — It was not only in material ways that 
America was advancing. This was ‘the golden age’ of 
its literature. During the middle of the nineteenth 
century, Irving, Bryant, and Cooper were still living, and 
many younger writers were at work. Henry Wadsworth 
Longfellow, our best-known and best-loved poet, wrote 
Evangeline , Hiawatha , and many other popular poems. 
John Greenleaf Whittier, the Quaker poet who loved nature, 
books, and freedom, wrote chiefly about New England life 


1857] 


DISCORD, SECESSION, AND WAR 


275 





and scenes; his 
best long poem, 
Snow-Bound , is 
a picture of 
New England 
country life in 
winter. James 
Russell Lowell 
was essayist and 
critic as well as 
poet, with a wide 
range of thought 
and subject, 
from the beauti¬ 
ful Vision of Sir 
Launfal to the 
witty Biglow 
Papers. Ralph 
Waldo Emerson 
was a thinker 


who by his lec- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 

tures and essays 

sounded the chord of self-reliance. Nathaniel Hawthorne 
wrote exquisite 
stories and ro¬ 
mances, many 
of which de¬ 
scribe old Puri¬ 
tan life; besides 
the Scarlet Let¬ 
ter and other 
romances, he 
wrote Tangle- 

James Russell Lowell Wood TClleS and Ralph Waldo Emerson 







276 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1857 




other charming books for 
children. Edgar Allan 
Poe, whom Tennyson 
called the chief literary 
glory of America, wrote 
The Raven and other mu¬ 
sical, imaginative poems 
and vivid, powerful stories. 

Sidney Lanier was a 
poet musician whose 
Marshes of Glynn and 
other poems have musical 
“ tone color ” as well as 
great originality, beauty, 
and loftiness of thought. 
Henry Timrod and Paul 

Nathaniel Hawthorne T , TT 

Hamilton Hayne were two 
other Southern poets who, amid hardships and disease, pro¬ 
duced some beautiful short poems. 

George Bancroft 
spent a half century of 
labor on a great History 
of the United States. 

John Lothrop Motley 
wrote an interesting 
history of the Rise of 
the Dutch Republic. 

William Hickling Pres¬ 
cott, bearing with cheer¬ 
ful courage his affliction 
of blindness, told in a 
clear, vivid style the 
history of Spain in 
America, in his Con- 




Edgar Allan Poe 





DISCORD, SECESSION, AND WAR 


277 


1857] 




quest of Peru , Conqjiest of Mexico , and other books. Later 
Francis Parkman, in spite of ill health and failing eye¬ 
sight, gave, in the vol- ____’ 

umes of his great history, 

France and England in 
North America , the story 
of the contest of the two 
nations for supremacy in 
the New World. 

America produced 
noteworthy scientists as 
well as poets, novelists, 
and historians. The bot¬ 
anist Asa Gray wrote 
about plant life, John 
James Audubon described 
the birds and animals of 

America, Louis Agassiz, Sidney Lanier 

a Swiss-American, wrote 

about natural science, and Matthew Fontaine Maury 
studied and charted the winds and 
ocean currents. 

New states.—While Buchanan was 
president, three new states were ad¬ 
mitted to the Union, — Minnesota 
[1858], Oregon [1859], and Kansas 
[1861], — all three free states. There 
were now nineteen free states and 
only fifteen slave states; the balance 
of power between the two sections 
was finally upset. 

[1857]. — The whole country listened 
with Interest t® the Dred Scott decision. Dred Scott was 
a negrro slave. His master, an army surgeon, carried Dred 


William pickling Prescott 

Dred Scott exse 





278 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1857 


to Illinois and Minnesota and then brought him back to 
Missouri. Dred claimed that his freedom was secured by 
residence in a free state and a free territory. His case 
was carried from one court to another; finally, the 
Supreme Court of the United States decided against him. 
The decision went on to say that, according to the Consti¬ 
tution, slaves were not citizens but property, and that their 
owners might carry them about, like any other property. 
Like the Kansas-Nebraska Bill, this decision set aside the 
Missouri Compromise as contrary to the Constitution. 
Most northern men disapproved this decision, saying that 
it would open all the country to slavery, and many said 
that they would not accept it as binding. Most southern 
men were pleased with it and said that it only protected 
their property rights. 

John Brown’s raid [1859]. — Two years later, an event 
took place which the South thought threatened greater 
danger than the North had foreseen from the Dred Scott 
decision. This was John Brown’s raid.. John Brown of 
Connecticut was an Abolitionist who had gone to Kansas, 
rifle in hand, to aid in making it a free state, and had taken 
bloody part in the lawless work there. After the Kansas 
question was decided, he settled near H irper’s Ferry, Vir¬ 
ginia. One Sunday night, with eighteen followers, he 
attacked the arsenal at Harper’s Ferry, hoping to secure 
weapons and establish a camp for runaway ^ftgroesdri the 
mountains of Virginia. He was captured, tried, "onvicted 
of murder and treason, and hanged. His> raid shewed, m a 
notable way, how widely the South and the No. h now 
differed. The southern people regarded John Bro' ; n as a 
murderer who was trying to incite the black men against the 
white; in many places in the North, bells were tolled and 
flags were lowered on the day of his execuion, and he was 
called a martyr to the cause of freedom. 


1859] 


DISCORD, SECESSION, AND WAR 


279 


Southerners began to fear that the North would arm 
slaves to attack their masters and would attempt to free the 
negroes by force. 

John Brown’s raid recalled the * Bloody Monday ’ of Nat 
Turner’s insurrection, a slave-rising in Virginia [1831]. 
In this insurrection, sixty white men, women, and children 
were killed in their homes, as in old Indian wars. Such 
massacres and worse were feared, if the negroes were 
urged on by men like Brown. 

Lincoln elected president. — While the North was still 
excited over the Dred Scott decision and the South over 
John Brown’s raid, there was a presidential election in 
which the slavery question was the chief issue. The north¬ 
ern and southern Democrats were divided ; some of them 
even voted with a third party, calling itself the Constitu¬ 
tional Union party. Its brief platform avoided disputed 
questions and urged only “ the Constitution of the country, 
the union of the states, and the enforcement of the laws.” 
Abraham Lincoln, the candidate of the Republican party 
which opposed the extension of slavery, was elected. He 
received a large majority of the electoral votes, but less 
than half the popular vote. 

Abraham Lincoln was an able man from the middle 
West who described himself as belonging “ to what 
they call down South the scrubs,” or poor whites. He was 
born in Kentucky; when he was seven years old, his 
father, a poor, shiftless, ignorant man, moved to Illinois. 
The family lived a year in a ‘ half-faced camp,’ before a 
rude cabin was built. In the West, Abraham Lincoln 
grew up and lived the life of the rough, vigorous frontiers¬ 
man. He went to school “ by littles,” as he said, less 
than a year in all. But he learned to read, write, and 
cipher, and he read and studied at home. His big, bony 
hands were familiar with hard work. He cut wood, 


2 8o SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [i860 


plowed, cut grain with a sickle and threshed it with a flail, 
felled trees, split rails, and did rough carpenter work. By 
common sense, patience, and wisdom, and by force of in¬ 
tellect, will, and character, Lincoln made his way to the 
front. He studied law and became an able public speaker 
and a brilliant debater. He was shrewd, full of quaint 
humor, and ready with a joke. He was opposed to the 
extension of slavery, but he thought that the government 
had no right to interfere with it where it was established 
and that the states ought to obey the Fugitive Slave Law. 

The South did not know much about Lincoln, but it 
knew that he hated slavery and it thought that he 
wished to destroy the system; in a famous debate with 
Senator Douglas, he had said, “A house divided against 
itself cannot stand. I believe this country cannot endure 
half slave and half free. I do not expect the house to fall, 
but I expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all 
one thing or all the other.” 

Secession of Cotton States [i860, 1861]. — The North 
had now control of both the Senate and the House. Many 
people in the South feared that this power would be used 
to their disadvantage. True, the Constitution protected 
slavery in the states. But John Brown’s raid made people 
feel that there were men ready to break the laws of the 
land in order to destroy slavery. Some states resolved to 
leave the Union, in which there was now discord instead 
of harmony. Soon after Lincoln was elected, the seven 
southern states, called the Cotton States, seceded from 
the Union. South Carolina was the first to take this step. 
In December, i860, it called a convention which passed 
an Ordinance of Secession, declaring the union between 
South Carolina and the other states dissolved. Soon after¬ 
ward, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, 
and Texas seceded. 


i86i] DISCORD, SECESSION, AND WAR 281 

Secession. — Before beginning the story of the great war 
in which the South contended for and the North against 
secession, let us consider this doctrine and the reasons why 
the South seceded. You will understand these better if 
you review what you have learned about the formation of 
the Constitution (pages 175-181), the Alien and Sedition 
Acts (page 195), Chief Justice Marshall (pages 206-207), 
the sectional contests about the tariff (pages 240-241, 246) 
and slavery (pages 231-232, 266-270, 277-279), and the 
contrary views about the Union declared by Hayne and 
Webster (pages 244-246). 

The North, as a whole, had come to feel more and more 
strongly that the states formed an indissoluble Union, 
making a nation which no one could leave without being 
guilty of treason and rebellion. It held that the Constitu¬ 
tion was an “ instrument of government ” and that it and 
the acts of Congress were the supreme law of the land. 
According to this view, states’ rights must be subordinate 
to Federal rights, in case of conflict, and there was no right 
of secession, for that meant the destruction of the Union. 

The South, as a whole, held the States’ Rights doctrine 
that the Union was a partnership of independent states. 
After the Revolution, Great Britain recognized each of 
the thirteen states as “free, sovereign, and independent.” 
The Union had only the rights which these states had 
given to the central organization in order to form a nation ; 
no state had ceded the greatest, the fundamental right of 
a sovereign state, the allegiance of its citizens; instead of 
being ceded, this right was reserved in the Constitution, 
which spoke of the “ citizens” of each state. Three states— 
Virginia, New York, and Rhode Island—reserved the right 
of secession when they adopted the Constitution, and this res¬ 
ervation of course gave, the same right to all their partners. 

Why did the southern states in i860 put in practice 





*>? .. ?'-• 








Jefferson Davis 













DISCORD, SECESSION, AND WAR 


283 


1861] 

this States’ Rights doctrine and secede from the Union? 
The seceding states claimed that the Union was under 
sectional control, hostile to their institutions and interests, 
and that it was best to withdraw and establish a government 
safeguarding their Constitutional rights. The South was 
set apart from other sections, its industries were almost 
entirely agricultural, and it had the institution of slavery. 

The North and the West had grown more rapidly than 
the South in wealth and population and they now had 
political dominance. This gave them the power to control 
legislation, and increasing sectional bitterness—largely due 
to the agitations of the Abolitionists — tended to cause them 
to use that power to the injury of the South. Already, 
that section complained, federal and state legislation was 
unfair to it. The burdens of federal taxation — particu¬ 
larly the results of high protective tariffs — bore with great 
severity upon its agricultural interests. Some of its Con¬ 
stitutional rights were being violated, in many northern 
states, by bills which nullified the Fugitive Slave law. 

Now a president had been elected who did not receive 
a single electoral vote in the South and whose party was 
founded on hostility to slavery. The growing inequality 
and bitterness between sections made the outlook gloomy. 

While nearly all southern men thought that a state had 
a right to secede, many thought that it was unwise to use 
this right. They loved the government which their fore¬ 
fathers had helped create and make great and glorious, and 
they thought that the questions which divided the sections 
could and should be settled in the Union. Still, most of 
them regarded the state’s claim as first and foremost. When 
their native states seceded, southern men withdrew from 
cabinet, Senate, House, army, navy, and civil service, 
returned home, and offered their services to their states. 

Peace convention. — Many men, North and South, still 


284 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE L&61 


hoped that the Union could be saved by compromises. 
Compromise measures were proposed in Congress, and at 
the request of Virginia a peace convention was held, to which 
twenty-one states sent delegates. But these efforts failed. 
It was too late for such measures. 

Formation of Confederate government [1861]. —The very 
day that the peace convention met, delegates from the se¬ 
ceding states assembled at Montgomery, Alabama, to form 
a new government, the Confederate States of America. 
Later, when Virginia seceded, Richmond was made the 
Confederate capital. Jefferson Davis of Mississippi was 
chosen president and Alexander Hamilton Stephens of 
Georgia was elected vice president. President Davis was a 
resolute, energetic man, and an extreme secessionist. In the 
War with Mexico, he proved himself a brave officer. After¬ 
ward he filled with honor high civil positions. He was a year 
older than President Lincoln and was born in Kentucky 
less than a hundred miles from Lincoln’s birthplace. Vice 
president Stephens was a brilliant statesman who believed 
that states had a legal right to secede, but that secession 
was ‘ the height of madness and folly.’ When Georgia 
seceded, he “bowed to the will of the people” and went 
with his state. 

The Constitution of the Confederate States was much 
like the Constitution of the United States, but it stated 
clearly what southern people believed to be the meaning 
of the Federal Constitution about slave property and state 
sovereignty. It forbade a protective tariff. It said that 
the president was to serve six years, and could not be 
reelected; he could remove officials only for dishonesty, 
unfitness for office, or neglect of duty. 

President Buchanan looked on with regret at the seces¬ 
sion of the states. He thought that they ought not to 
secede, but he did not think the Constitution gave the 


DISCORD, SECESSION, AND WAR 


iSoiJ 


285 



Capitol of the Confederacy, showing Washington Monument in Foreground 


general government any authority to compel them to stay 
in the Union. 

Summary [1857-1861]. — James Buchanan of Pennsylvania, the fif¬ 
teenth president, served one term. While he was president, three new 
free states were admitted, — Minnesota, Oregon, and Kansas. The 
North was angered by the Dred Scott decision, in which the Supreme 
Court declared the Missouri Compromise unlawful and said that slave¬ 
owners could carry slaves like other property into territories. The 
South was alarmed by John Brown’s raid, the attempt of an Abolitionist 
to free slaves by force. During this excitement, Abraham Lincoln was 
elected president. The Cotton States — South Carolina, Mississippi, 
Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas — seceded from the 
Union and formed a new government, the Confederate States, of which 
Jefferson Davis of Mississippi was elected president. 


4. Lincoln’s Presidency : The Beginning of the War 

of Secession 

Lincoln’s attitude toward secession. — With sad face and 
anxious heart, Lincoln took his place as president of the 









286 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE 


[1861 

United States. He regarded the secession of the southern 
states as a big riot. “ I hold that . . . the union of these 
states is perpetual,” he said, and he was resolved to pre¬ 
serve it, ‘peaceably if he could, forcibly if he must/ His 
first efforts were to save the Union without war. In his 
inaugural address, he assured the southern states that their 
rights would be safe in the Union. “I have no purpose, 
directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of 
slavery in the states where it exists,” he said; “ I believe 
I have no lawful right to do so; and I have no inclination 
to do so.” “We are not enemies, but friends. We must 
not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it 
must not break our bonds of affection.” 

Capture of Fort Sumter [April 14]. —The seceded states 
no longer regarded themselves as members of the Union. 

They took posses¬ 
sion of the Federal 
property within 
their limits, — post 
offices, custom 
houses, forts, and 
arsenals. They 
said that they 
were entitled to 
their share of the 
common property 
and that they were willing to assume their share of the 
common debt. They demanded the surrender of the few 
southern forts which remained in the possession of the 
United States. One of these was Fort Sumter, on an 
island in the channel of Charleston, which had a garrison 
of seventy men under command of Major Robert Ander¬ 
son. Lincoln refused to surrender Fort Sumter and sent 
supplies and troops to its aid. The Confederates then 



Fort Sumter before the Bombardment 





DISCORD, SECESSION, AND WAR 


1861I 


287 


attacked the fort and took it, after a bombardment of 
thirty-six hours. Not a man was killed on either side. 

The capture of Fort Sumter was the bloodless beginning 
of a bloody war. Each side claimed that the other was 
the aggressor. The 
North asserted that the 
South began the war 
by firing on the fort 
over which floated the 
Federal flag. The 
South said that the 
attempt to send armed 
men to a fort in the 
territory of a seceded 
state was an act of war. 

Call for troops [April 
15].— The day after 
Fort Sumter sur¬ 
rendered, President 
Lincoln issued a proclamation calling on the state govern¬ 
ments for 75,000 men to suppress what he regarded as an 
insurrection in the South; in three days, more than the 
required number enlisted. President Davis called for 
troops to oppose the invaders, and the response was as 
prompt and eager as in the North. 

Course of border states. —The border states did not wish 
to secede ; but most of the people in them believed in States’ 
Rights and thought that the Federal government had no 
authority to use force against the seceded states. Virginia, 
Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina refused to send 
troops at Lincoln’s call and joined the Confederacy. Mary¬ 
land, Kentucky, and Missouri were divided in sympathy; 
Union sentiments or forces were strong enough to prevent 
formal secession, but Confederates organized governments. 







288 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1861 


A Confederate Flag 


Cause of war. — Congress passed a resolution declaring 
that the war was not waged to overthrow or interfere 
with an established institution of the southern states — 
that is, slavery — but “to preserve the Union with all the 
dignity, equality, and rights of the 
several states unimpaired.” The 
great question, then, which the war 
was to decide was the right of a 
state to secede. Was the Union 
supreme or was each state free 
and independent ? Which had the 
first claim on a citizen’s obedience ? 
The North said ‘the Union,’ the South said ‘the state.’ 
The North appealed to the love for the Union and for 
the flag, the symbol of glory and nationality. The South 
appealed to the love for the state and for the right of 
self-government. 

Both sides thought that the war would be brief, and most 
of the soldiers enlisted for only three months. Instead, 
there followed a great four-years’ war in which hundreds 
of battles were fought and hundreds of thousands of lives 
were lost. We can follow only the main lines and give a 
bird’s-eye view of the conflict. 



Condition of two sections. — The two sections arrayed 
against each other were very different. The South was 
rich in natural advantages, — fine water-power, good sea¬ 
ports, navigable rivers, fertile soil, valuable forests, rich 
deposits of metals and minerals ; but most of these resources 
were undeveloped. It was engaged almost entirely in 
agriculture, raising a few crops for market, — tobacco, rice, 
sugar, and, above all, cotton, of which it produced the 
world’s supply; with these crops, it bought clothes, tools, 
guns, powder, shot, medicine, — nearly all the articles that 
it used. It had a few cotton mills and woolen factories, 






Abraham Lincoln 






290 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1861 


but only one-fortieth of its cotton was manufactured at 
home; the remainder was sent to the North and to Eng¬ 
land. All the manufactures of the eleven Confederate 
States were less in value than those of the one state of 
Massachusetts. The case was hardly overstated when it 
was said : “ From the rattle with which the nurse tickled 
the ear of the child to the shroud for the dead, everything 
that the southerners used came from the North.” 

The North was a great manufacturing region. It had 
many mills, factories, and machine shops. It had a great 
trade, too, with all the world, and it had the credit of an 
established government. In population, as in wealth and 
resources, the North excelled the South. In the twenty- 
three states of the Union, there were 22,000,000 people; 
in the eleven states of the Confederacy, there were only 
9,000,000, of whom 3,700,000 were slaves. The South had 
only one-fourth as many fighting men as the North, and 
throughout the war, the Union soldiers outnumbered the 
Confederates in every campaign and in nearly every battle. 
The southern soldiers, however, had certain great advan¬ 
tages; they fought, in the main, on their own ground a 
defensive campaign; most of them were accustomed to 
outdoor life, and were fearless horsemen and skilled 
marksmen. Many northern men who enlisted in the army 
had to learn to load and fire a gun. 

In courage, in devotion to the cause they thought right, 
northerners and southerners were equal. 

Blockade proclaimed. — When President Lincoln called 
for troops, he proclaimed a blockade of the southern coast. 
Ships were collected as rapidly as possible to blockade the 
southern coast from Chesapeake Bay to the Rio Grande 
River, so as to keep the Confederates from carrying on trade 
and getting guns and other supplies from abroad. The 
Confederacy had no navy and small facilities for building 



^Xpruonf3’jvi 




a? y*Wfc >'W 

> V ''< 1 ,. .V' 




.>;>'"!•.>!///,,i 




.*?fl Vi 


'f'/u i 


>-\\T ' 


Snd Tc c 






.tfMjg, 






5“ - *ty •'i^. ..iii'//. 




?»S 


a> 


£ 


(? *=> 














































































































. 


£ 












291 


i86i] DISCORD, SECESSION, AND WAR 

ships; but under difficulties some good vessels were con¬ 
structed. 

Confederate frontiers. — The South was naturally well 
defended along most of its frontiers. Its eastern and 
southern coasts were easily fortified, and the western coun¬ 
try was still a wilderness. The northern boundary between 
the Union and the Confederacy followed the Potomac 
River; leaving this river, it passed through Cumberland 
Gap and crossed Kentucky and Missouri. East of the 
mountains, the Confederacy was protected against attack 
from the North by swamps and forests and eastward-flow¬ 
ing rivers. West of this region, the rough, thickly-wooded 
Appalachian Mountains formed a natural defense for the 
Confederate frontiers. West of these mountains, however, 
the Federals had geographical advantages. The country 
was level and open ; the Mississippi and its branches led, 
like roads from the North, into the southern states. 

Task of invasion. — As the North was trying to bring 
the South back into the Union, it had to take the offensive 
and invade the country. An invading army must keep 
communications open behind it in order to receive supplies, 
and this the Union troops found often a difficult task. 
Moreover, the fact that the North was the attacking party 
made sentiment stronger in the South; southern men 
flocked to the army to defend their native states. 

First battle of Manassas [July 21]. — The troops on 
both sides were eager for battle. The northern cry was, 
“ On to Richmond! ” and Confederate troops were sent 
northward to meet the invading Federal forces. The first 
real battle of the war took place at Manassas, a railroad 
junction, about twenty-five miles south of Washington. 
The Union troops under General McDowell advanced and 
attacked the Confederates, under Generals Beauregard and 
Joseph E. Johnston. The raw, undisciplined troops 


292 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1861 


fought bravely, and for awhile the result seemed in doubt. 
Then General Thomas Jackson checked the Federal ad¬ 
vance with a bayonet charge. 

“There are Jackson and his Virginians standing like a 
stone wall,” said one of the Confederates, and from that 
day the great general was known as Stonewall Jackson. 

The Union troops retreated in disorder through the 
pouring rain to Washington, having sustained heavy loss 
in killed, wounded, and captured. 

Treatment of prisoners. — The Union government had 
refused to acknowledge the Confederate government. It 
regarded the war as a big riot and said that it would treat 
southern seamen as pirates and southern soldiers as crimi¬ 
nals who had murdered Union soldiers. Now the Con¬ 
federate government threatened to retaliate on the prisoners 
taken at Manassas. To protect these, the Federals finally 
agreed to treat captives as regular prisoners of war. 

Fighting along borders. — With the exception of the 
battle of Manassas, the fighting during the first year of 
the war was confined to skirmishes and contests for the 
possession of the border country. In the mountains of 
western Virginia and eastern Tennessee, most of the people 
were opposed to secession. The Union general, McClellan, 
secured control of western Virginia by the battle of Rich’s 
Mountain. Federal troops occupied most of Kentucky 
and Missouri also. 

Trent affair [November 8]. — An event took place in 
the autumn which threatened to bring on war between the 
United States and Great Britain. At the beginning of the 
war, France and Great Britain declared their neutrality. 
The Confederate government, hoping to secure these coun¬ 
tries as its allies, sent James M. Mason of Virginia and 
John Slidell of Louisiana as commissioners to them. 
These gentlemen went from Charleston to the West Indies 


DISCORD, SECESSION, AND WAR 


293 


1861] 

and took passage on a British steamer, the Trent. It was 
stopped by an American warship, commanded by Captain 
Charles Wilkes ; Messrs. Mason and Slidell were taken off 
and carried as prisoners to Boston. 

Wilkes’s action was contrary to the law of nations, 
but the North generally approved of it. Great Britain, 
however, protested against the act as an insult to her flag, 
and ordered troops to Canada to be ready to enforce 
the protest. President Lincoln admitted that Captain 
Wilkes was in the wrong, and released Messrs. Mason and 
Slidell. 

Confederate cruisers. — Great Britain did not declare in 
favor of the Confederacy, but its attitude was friendly. 
The Alabama , Shenandoah , and several other ships were 
built in England for the Confederacy. These cruisers 
captured many merchant vessels and did much damage to 
northern commerce. The most noted of them was the 
Alabama , commanded by Captain Semmes, which captured 
sixty-nine vessels in its two-years’ cruise. 

Summary [1861]. — Before Abraham Lincoln of Illinois, the six¬ 
teenth president came into office, seven southern states seceded from 
the Union. President Lincoln was resolved to preserve the Union. 
He attempted to reenforce Fort Sumter, whereupon the Confederates 
attacked and took the fort. Lincoln then called for troops to invade 
the South. Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina refused 
to send troops and joined the Confederacy. There began the great 
four-years’ War of Secession to determine whether the Union was su¬ 
preme or the states were sovereign, a question which the contest over 
slavery had rendered acute. The North was superior to the South in 
wealth, resources, and population. The South had the advantage of 
fighting on its own ground against invasion. The first great battle 
of the war, Manassas, was a Confederate victory. The Trent affair 
came near involving the Union in war with Great Britain. 


294 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1862 


5. The Events of 1862 

Points of Federal attack. — During the first year of 
the War of Secession, both sides were occupied chiefly 
in preparing for the contest; there were no regular cam¬ 
paigns. The next spring, there came the clash of arms 
along the frontiers of the Confederacy. The Federals 
had three main objects : first, to get control of the Mis¬ 
sissippi River, which would give them a great highway 
and cut the Confederacy in two ; second, to blockade the 
South’s coast and capture its Seaports, so as to shut it 
from the outside world; third, to capture Richmond, the 
Confederate capital. 

Capture of Forts Henry [February 6] and Donelson [Feb¬ 
ruary 16].— General Halleck commanded the Union forces 
in the West. Under him were some able officers, — Gen¬ 
erals Pope, Grant, Thomas, and Buell. The Union troops 
moved southward along the valleys, supported by fleets of 
gunboats on the rivers. Commodore Foote took Fort 
Henry on the Tennessee River. A few days later, Gen¬ 
eral Grant attacked Fort Donelson on the Cumberland 
River. The Confederate garrison asked what terms Grant 
would give. 

He answered, “ No terms except an unconditional and 
immediate surrender can be accepted.” 

The Confederates surrendered on these hard terms, and 
from that time Grant was known by the nickname of ‘ Un¬ 
conditional Surrender.’ 

General Grant. — Ulysses S. Grant was, like Lincoln, 
‘one of the plain people.’ He was educated at West 
Point and served with honor in the War with Mexico. 
Later he left the army. For awhile, he lived in a log 
cabin on a little farm which he called ‘ Hardscrabble ’; 
then he became a clerk in his father’s leather shop. At 



General Ulysses S. Grant 







296 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1862 


the beginning of the war, he entered the army and was 
put in command of Illinois troops. Grant was a quiet, re¬ 
served man, prompt and firm in action, and with the power 
of handling great masses of men; he possessed the ability 
to form a good plan and then to stick to it, in spite of dis¬ 
couragement and defeat, until he was successful. Lincoln 
soon learned his value, and said, “ I can’t spare this man; 
he fights.” 


\ / lyV E N N s Y l. YAN * * 

, , „ „ . , o 11 ho /J\\ u<g bC- 

L'L I N O I S if ** Columbus'. ( if' -r-r-v—-< 

\ .Springfield India p ap0lis ‘J \ 

' *9 /^Ucinoinnati oT> VES T ^ 

* Sir. NkAv- 

\m™y r L^€A\\- 


.^Louisville 

s /-a 




-y iU»oriCJ-4@fc)rU !V. 


d ‘- 

\ \ L ... > Aooldsboro^* 

[Faye ttev ille ^ 0 


m. ^ 

t" bI,UH'„ 

B'»d 

Orana Qul,4,->~ S* / <0 I 

A* I 

IP*" 


M Ip^V 
V Vp^“ 


\ge\oRG\IA' 

' Montgomery Anderson\Ule 






Igj S-Lja ^ 

rensaoola 


A-V-A. 


y. JaoksonvillS 


'Charleston 

ROUTES OF 

INVADING ARMIES 

Main Union Army West* — • — 

Second Union Army West -- — 

Confederate Armies — 

Minor Raids _ 

SCALE OF MILES 


0 50 100 


200 


BORMAV ENG. CO., N.Y. 


Fighting in West.—The capture of Forts Henry and 
Donelson gave the Federals control of the Tennessee 
River which, like a road, leads through Tennessee into 
Mississippi and Alabama. The powerful northern armies 
and fleets advanced along this highway into southern terri¬ 
tory. The Confederates were forced back, till their line 
of defense extended from Memphis to Chattanooga. There 
were sharp conflicts in Missouri and in Arkansas. The 









1862] 


DISCORD, SECESSION, AND WAR 


297 


battle of Pea Ridge broke up the Confederate army west 
of the Mississippi. 

Battle of Shiloh [April 6, 7]. — General Grant marched 
toward Corinth, a railway center in northern Mississippi, 
expecting to be joined on the way by troops under General 
Buell. General Albert Sidney Johnston, one of the ablest 
of the southern commanders, hurried north with his army, 
in order to engage Grant in battle before he was reen¬ 
forced. 

The two armies met near Pittsburg Landing, one Sun¬ 
day morning. A fierce battle was fought in the woods 
around Shiloh Church, and the Union troops were forced 
back to the river. But Confederate success ended with 
the day. General Johnston was killed in the battle, and 
night brought General Grant large reenforcements under 
Buell. The next day, the battle was renewed, and for six 
hours the Confederates, led by General Beauregard, fought 
bravely. Then they were forced to retreat. The Federals 
followed, and General Beauregard had to abandon Corinth 
and move southward. 

Vicksburg and Port Hudson. —The Federals took Mem¬ 
phis, thus gaining control of the Mississippi River down 
to Vicksburg, Mississippi, a natural stronghold, which was 
held by the Confederates. From the Ohio, the Mississippi 
pursues a winding course to the sea, with a fall of a little 
over three hundred feet in its thousand-mile course. The 
surrounding country is covered with a network of swamps, 
channels, and streams. These lowlands are bordered on 
the east by bluffs which draw near the Mississippi at 
Vicksburg and Port Hudson. At Vicksburg, the river 
bends and almost doubles on its course, leaving a tongue 
of land about a mile wide and three or four miles long. 
Vicksburg is situated on bluffs two hundred feet in height, 
out of reach of the guns of ships on the river; it is sur- 


298 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1862 


rounded by rough country broken by ravines and a net¬ 
work of streams. 

Port Hudson, Louisiana, two hundred and fifty miles 
lower down the river, is almost as strongly situated 

as Vicksburg; it 
also was occupied 
by the Confed¬ 
erates. Between 
the two, the Red 
R.iver empties 
into the Missis¬ 
sippi. This was 
a great road, on 
which men and 
supplies came 
from the western 
to the eastern 
part of the Con¬ 
federacy. 

After the Con¬ 
federates aban¬ 
doned Corinth, 
they fell back to 
a line extending from Vicksburg to Chattanooga. They 
made unsuccessful attempts to take Louisville and to retake 
Corinth. On the other hand, Generals Grant and Sherman 
tried in vain to capture Vicksburg. 

Farragut’s fleet. — Meanwhile, a Union fleet was forcing 
its way up the Mississippi. Captain Farragut entered the 
river with fifty vessels, the strongest fleet that had ever sailed 
under the American flag. Seventy-five miles below New 
Orleans w.ere two strong forts, nearly opposite each other. 
Below these forts, the Confederates had stretched chains 
across the river; above the forts, they had a small fleet. 



Map of Vicksburg 







General' Stonewall ’ Jackson 


General J. E. B. Stuart 



General Robert E. Lee 




General J. E. Johnston 


General A. S. Johnston 


CONFEDERATE COMMANDERS 






3 °° 


SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1862 


After bombarding the forts five days and nights and 
failing to take them, Farragut cut the chains, passed the 
forts [April 25], destroyed the little Confederate fleet, 
and took New Orleans. General Butler was left in con¬ 
trol of the city which he ‘ ruled like a conquered prov¬ 
ince.’ Farragut forced his way up the river as far as 
Port Hudson. 

Blockade runners. — Union fleets blockaded the Confed¬ 
erate coast and almost destroyed its commerce. Its crops 
were shut in from the markets of the world ; the value 
of the cotton exported fell in two years from $200,000,000 
to $4,000,000. Some trade was carried on from southern 
ports by small, swift vessels called blockade runners. 
These were painted dull gray and burned hard coal so as 
not to make much smoke ; on dark nights, they slipped 
past the blockading vessels. They carried cotton and 
other stores from Confederate ports to the West Indies, 
and brought back guns, powder, salt, medicine, and other 
supplies. Many blockade runners were captured, but the 
profits of the trade were so great that two successful trips 
would pay for a vessel. 

Federal success in West.—At the end of the year, 
the F'ederals had been successful in two of their three 
objects. They had established a strict blockade of the 
coast, and they had gained control of the Mississippi 
except between Port Hudson and Vicksburg. But they 
had failed in their third object, —the capture of Richmond. 
In this attempt, they had been checked at every turn by 
able Confederate generals who made skillful use of the 
natural defenses of the region. 

Merrimac and Monitor [March 8]. — In the spring of 1862, 
a contest took place which changed the sea fighting of 
the world. This was the battle between the Monitor and 
the Merrimac or Virginia . The frigate Merrimac had 


1862] 


DISCORD, SECESSION, AND WAR 


3 01 


been fitted up by the Confederates as an ironclad vessel; 
it was covered with plates of iron and fitted with an iron 
beak. This floating fort attacked the Union fleet of five 
wooden battleships near Fortress Monroe. Their shot 
and shell glanced from it ‘like so many peas.’ Its beak 
crushed like, an eggshell the sides of the sloop Cumber¬ 
land , which went down with its flag flying. The frigate 



Battle between the Monitor and the Merrimac 


Congress surrendered and was burned. The destruction 
of the other vessels seemed only a question of a few 
hours, when at nightfall the Merrimac paused in its deadly 
work. This battle proved that wooden ships are helpless 
against iron ones. 

That night help came to the Federal fleet. The Moni¬ 
tor arrived in Hampton Roads. This was an iron-plated 
vessel, invented by John Ericsson, a Swedish engineer 
making his home in America. The Monitor looked like 










302 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1862 

“a cheese box on a raft”; it had a low, flat body, only a 
foot or two above the water, and a revolving turret con¬ 
taining two immense guns. 

There took place in Hampton Roads a notable battle 
between these ironclad vessels. For hours, they fired at 
each other volleys which would have destroyed wooden 
vessels, but which glanced harmless from their iron sides. 
A man on the Merrimac said, “ After two-hours’ incessant 
firing, I find that I can do about as much damage by 
snapping my thumb at her [th e Monitor] every two minutes 
and a half.” After five-hours’ fighting, the Monitor retired 
out of range of shot and the Merrimac withdrew to Norfolk. 

Realizing the value of ironclads, the Union authorities 
promptly began to build other vessels on the order of the 
Monitor. Now the warships of the world are ironclad. 

General McClellan. — The first year of the war, General 
George McClellan was put in command of the Union 
forces. He was a brave, honorable man, and in many 
respects an able general, but he was very cautious and 
fearful of failure. He never liked to attack unless he was 
sure to win, and he was apt to overestimate his oppo¬ 
nent’s strength. 

General McClellan took charge of an army made up 
largely of civilians who had never handled guns; he spent 
the winter drilling them, and by the spring of 1862 he had 
an excellently-equipped army of 185,000 well-trained men. 

Peninsular Campaign [April-July]. — What route should 
he pursue in his advance toward Richmond ? He thought 
that it would be unwise to march directly forward because 
the country between Richmond and Washington, broken 
with rivers, swamps, and forests, presented many difficul¬ 
ties to an invading army. So McClellan made what is 
called the Peninsular Campaign. He took his troops 
down Chesapeake Bay to Fortress Monroe, thence up the 


1862] 


DISCORD, SECESSION, AND WAR 


303 


peninsula between the James and York rivers. The army 
was protected in the rear by the fleet in Hampton Roads; 
on both sides, there were rivers up which came gunboats 
and supply ships. 

General McClellan had trained his army well, and made 
an excellent plan of campaign. If he had advanced 
promptly up the peninsula, he might have made his way 
to Richmond before the Confederates could collect troops 
to oppose him. But at the beginning of his campaign, 
he was held in check a month at Yorktown by a small 
Confederate force. The Confederates had about one man 
to McClellan’s four, and they had so few guns that they 
put ‘ Quaker guns,’ mere painted logs, on their fortifica¬ 
tions to deceive the Federals. 

Battle of Seven Pines, or Fair Oaks [May 31, June 1].— 
While McClellan lingered, the Confederate force increased 
from a handful to an army. It was still smaller than the 
Union army, but the Federals were in a swampy region 
and their troops were divided by the Chickahominy River. 
The Confederate general Joseph E. Johnston attacked and 
defeated the troops on the south side of the river, at Seven 
Pines, or Fair Oaks, a few miles below Richmond. 

General Lee. — In this battle, General Johnston was 
wounded, and General Robert E. Lee took charge of the 
Confederate army. General Lee was the son of ‘ Light- 
horse Harry’ Lee of the Revolution. He had been edu¬ 
cated at West Point, had distinguished himself in the War 
with Mexico, and was now to prove himself one of the 
world’s great captains. In ability to accomplish much 
with small means, he resembled Washington. He had 
done signal service in the old Union army, and at the be¬ 
ginning of the war, he was offered command of the Union 
army; he declined because he did not believe that the 
general government had a right to use force against the 



304 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1862 

southern states and he thought that his first duty was to 
his native state, Virginia. 

“ Though opposed to secession and deprecating war,” 
he said, “ I could take no part in an invasion of the south¬ 
ern states.” 

An English officer described him thus: “ General Lee 
is the handsomest man of his age that I ever saw. He is 


The Lee Mansion, Arlington, Virginia 

tall, broad-shouldered, — a thorough soldier in appearance. 
His manners are most courteous and full of dignity. He 
is a perfect gentleman in every respect. He has none of 
the small vices, such as smoking, drinking, chewing, or 
swearing, and his bitterest enemies have never accused 
him of any of the greater ones. His only faults arise from 
great amiability.” 

Stonewall Jackson. — McClellan was now so near Rich¬ 
mond that he could hear the ringing of its bells. He 
waited to attack the city until he should receive reenforce- 











DISCORD, SECESSION, AND WAR 


305 



General Robert E. Lee 


X 






306 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1862 


ments under McDowell. Meanwhile, a Confederate gen¬ 
eral made a brilliant campaign in the Shenandoah Valley 
and prevented the sending of these reenforcements. This 
general was Jackson, who on the battle field of Manassas 
had won the name of Stonewall. He was a shy, grave 
man, with a solemn, steadfast face. Like Grant, he was ‘ a 
man of the plain people/ with wonderful military ability. 
He was firm and prudent, energetic and daring. He 
was as noted for piety as for skill in fighting; his bulletins 
after battle usually said, “God gave us victory.” His 
motto was, “ Do your duty and leave the rest to Provi¬ 
dence.” 

Jackson’s Valley Campaign [March-June].— By a series 
of marches—so swift and sudden that his little band was 
called * Stonewall’s foot cavalry ’ — Jackson drove the Fed¬ 
eral troops out of the Shenandoah Valley. The Shenan¬ 
doah Valley opens from the southwest toward Washington, 
and the Union authorities were afraid that Jackson would 
come through this ‘ back door * and attack their capital. 
Instead of going to the help of McClellan, McDowell was 
recalled from Fredericksburg to attack Jackson. The Con¬ 
federate general slipped between two divisions which united 
could have crushed him, and attacked and defeated them 
separately; then he joined Lee near Richmond. 

With 15,000 men, he had kept 60,000 busy in the valley. 
In thirty-two days, he had marched nearly four hundred 
miles, fought five battles against superior forces, and come 
off victor with many prisoners and large stores. This 
campaign is studied in military schools as a remarkable 
instance of handling a small force so as to make it effec¬ 
tive against a larger one. 

The Seven Days’ Fighting [June 25-July 1]. — General 
Lee took advantage of General McClellan’s inaction to 
strengthen his army and his position. General J. E. B. 


1862] 


DISCORD, SECESSION, AND WAR 


307 


Stuart, with a small body of cavalry, was sent to find out 
the exact position of McClellan’s forces. He rode around 
the Union army and brought back stores and prisoners as 
well as the desired information. Then, instead of the 
looked-for McDowell, came Jackson. Lee and Jackson 
attacked McClellan in daily battles called the Seven Days’ 
Fighting. The Confederates and Federals both lost 
heavily, but the Confederates succeeded in defending their 
capital. The Union troops were forced to fall back to 
the James River where they were protected by their 
gunboats. 

Change of generals and plans. — McClellan had not ac¬ 
complished as much as had been expected with his great 
army. So Halleck, the commander of the victorious army 
in the West, was called East and put in charge. General 
Pope was given command of the Union army in Virginia. 

Second battle of Manassas [August 29, 30]. — Instead of 
taking a roundabout course like McClellan, Pope tried to 
advance directly to Richmond, so as to attack it and pro¬ 
tect Washington at the same time. He went as far as the 
field of Manassas, the scene of the first great battle of the 
war. There he was met and defeated by Lee and Jackson. 

Battle of Antietam [September 16, 17]. — After the battle 
of Manassas, Pope withdrew toward Washington. Jackson 
marched his ‘ foot cavalry ’ north and took Harper’s Ferry ; 
then he rejoined Lee who had crossed the Potomac into 
Maryland. At Antietam Creek, near Sharpsburg, they 
met the Federal forces which had again been put in charge 
of McClellan. A great drawn battle was fought. The 
advance of the Confederates was checked, and they re¬ 
crossed the Potomac and withdrew into Virginia. 

Two weeks later, President Lincoln visited the battle 
field of Antietam, and looking at the long lines of graves, he 
said sadly, “ Brave men all—and both sides Americans.” 


308 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1862 

Battle of Fredericksburg [December 13].—After Antietam, 
General McClellan was again removed. General Ambrose 
Burnside was put in command, and promptly proved him¬ 
self the wrong man for the place. With over a hundred 
thousand men, he attacked a much smaller Confederate 
army strongly posted at Fredericksburg, on the heights 



Battle of Antietam 


south of the Rappahannock River. The Federals were 
repulsed with a loss of 13,000 men; the Confederate loss 
was only 4000. 

The second year of the war ended with Union victories 
in the West balanced by defeats in the East. 

Hardships caused by blockade. — At sea, the Federals 
had the advantage. By the end of this year, most of the 
Confederate vessels were captured, and the great Union 
fleet lay like a wall along the southern coast. As the 




1862] 


DISCORD, SECESSION, AND WAR 


309 


blockade grew closer, it became more and more difficult 
for the South to get supplies. Parched wheat and other 
grains were used as substitutes for coffee; sage and rasp¬ 
berry leaves took the place of tea. Looms long unused 
were brought out and homespun clothes were made. Car¬ 
pets were cut up for blankets. People went barefoot or 
wore wooden clogs or shoes made of old felt hats. Soldiers 
had scanty rations of 
coarse food; many of 
them were ragged, tent¬ 
less, hatless, shoeless; as 
in the days of the Revolu¬ 
tion, the line of march 
was marked by blood from 
the soldiers’ bare feet. At 
home and in the field, the 
sick suffered for lack of 
medicines. 

Women’s part in war. — 

In the South and in the 
North, the women at home 
did a noble part in helping 
carry on the war. They 
sent blankets from their 
own beds to the soldiers, 
they made bandages and 
clothing, knitted socks, collected food, — working hard and 
denying themselves the comforts of life in order to send 
supplies to camps and hospitals. 

Summary [1862]. — The second year of the war, the Federals 
attempted to do three things : first, to get control of the Mississippi 
River ; second, to blockade the Confederate coast; third, to capture 
Richmond. They gained control of the western country and the Mis¬ 
sissippi River as far down as Vicksburg, and the fleet under Farragut 



An Army Nurse 




3 io SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1863 


took New Orleans and moved up the river to Port Hudson. A block¬ 
ade of the coast was established. A notable event was the fight of the 
Monitor and the Merrimac , the first battle between ironclad warships. 
The Federals were unsuccessful in their attempts to take Richmond, 
which was protected by able Confederate generals, — Johnston, Lee, 
and Jackson. McClellan was defeated in the Seven Days 1 Fighting, 
Pope in the second battle of Manassas, and Burnside at Fredericksburg. 
Lee and Jackson marched into Maryland, and a fierce drawn battle was 
fought at Antietam. 


6 . The Events of 1863 

Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation [January 1, 1863]. 

— At first, the North was doubtful what position to take 
about slavery, or even what to do about runaway slaves 
who came to the Union camps. One of the rules of civi¬ 
lized war is that private property must not be taken with¬ 
out paying for it. As slaves were private property, the 
southerners said that runaways ought to be given up. 
General Benjamin F. Butler, a sharp lawyer who was in 
command of Fortress Monroe, refused to return runaway 
negroes, saying that as they were useful in building forts, 
etc., they were ‘contraband of war,’ like guns and powder. 
This was a shrewd way out of the difficulty, and most of 
the Federals treated slaves as ‘contraband.’ 

Some officers went so far as to declare them free, but 
President Lincoln said that this must not be done. The 
Constitution allowed slavery, and neither he, the president, 
nor any one else had a right to abolish it. He declared 
in a public letter: “ My paramount object in this struggle 
is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy 
slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any 
slave, I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing all 
the slaves, I would do it.” 

At last he decided that it was “ a fit and necessary war 
measure ” for him, as commander in chief of the army, to 



x86 3 ] DISCORD, SECESSION, AND WAR 311 

emancipate the slaves in the seceded states. So he 
issued an Emancipation Proclamation, declaring the slaves 
in the seceded states free. This proclamation did not free 
the slaves in the border Union states nor abolish the sys¬ 
tem of slavery anywhere. 

Exchange of prisoners. — After the Emancipation Proc¬ 
lamation, regiments of negro soldiers were formed. The 
South refused to recognize the Emancipation Proclamation 
or the right of the North to enroll negro soldiers, many 
of whom were runaway slaves. It refused to exchange 
negroes, and the North insisted that all prisoners must be 
on the same footing. The Union government had at first 
refused to exchange prisoners; and soon after it began to 
make exchanges this dispute put a stop to them. 

Captured soldiers were crowded by thousands in prisons, 
and many died from disease and hardships. The prisons 
on both sides were badly managed. The Confederate 
government had for its own soldiers only scanty rations of 
coarse corn meal and bacon. It was unable to care for 
its captives; well men suffered for lack of food and sick 
ones died for lack of medicine. At last, the Confederates 
were reduced to such straits that they offered to exchange 
negroes like other prisoners, but the offer was refused. 
The North, with its large population and abundant means, 
could replace its lost men; the South could not, and each 
man that the Confederates lost weakened their army and 
brought them a step nearer defeat. 

Formation of West Virginia. — The year that the Eman¬ 
cipation Proclamation was issued, Congress admitted as a 
separate state, called West Virginia, the western counties 
of Virginia which opposed secession. The Constitution of 
the United States forbids the division of a state without its 
own consent, but Congress accepted the theory that these 
counties represented the state of Virginia. 


3 12 


SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1863 


Draft Acts. —At first, the army ranks on both sides were 
filled by volunteers, but as time passed it grew more diffi¬ 
cult to get soldiers. Instead of depending on volunteers, 
both governments passed Draft Acts, requiring men to 
serve in the army. In the South, the age limit was extended 
time after time until it included boys of sixteen and men of 
seventy; General Grant said that the Confederates “ robbed 
the cradle and the grave ” to get soldiers. 

Lincoln’s orders for drafting troops caused great excite¬ 
ment and even resistance. In New York City, there 
were Draft Riots. Several hundred persons were killed 
and wounded; millions of dollars’ worth of property was 
destroyed. For days, the city was almost at the mercy of 
mobs. Troops intended for southern service had to be 
called on to suppress the riots. By degrees, order was 
restored and the act was enforced. 

Battle of Chancellorsville [May 2, 3]. —After Burnside’s 
defeat at Fredericksburg, the command of the Army of 
the Potomac was given to General Hooker. ‘ Fighting 
Joe,’ as he was called, fared worse even than his prede¬ 
cessors. He did not attempt to attack the Confederates, 
still strongly posted on the Fredericksburg heights; in¬ 
stead, he crossed the river with an army of about 95,000 
men and halted in the woods near Chancellorsville. 
Although Lee had only about 45,000 men, he divided his 
army and sent Jackson to make a fifteen-mile march 
through the woods and attack the Union flank while he 
attacked the front. The Confederates won a brilliant vic¬ 
tory, but they sustained a far greater loss than that of 
many battles. General Jackson, who had advanced at 
nightfall between the lines to examine the Union position, 
was shot by mistake by his own men and died a few days 
later. 

General Lee well said to the wounded officer, “You 


86 3 ] 


DISCORD, SECESSION, AND WAR 


313 


have lost your left arm; but I, in losing you, have lost my 
right arm.” 

Battle of Gettysburg [July 1, 2, 3]. —After defeating 
and driving back Hooker, Lee crossed the Potomac and 
advanced into Pennsyl¬ 
vania. He gave strict 
orders that private 
property should not be 
molested and advanced 
in orderly march as far 
as Gettysburg. There 
he was met by the 
Federals under brave 
General George Meade 
and a great battle was 
fought. The Union 
troops were strongly 
posted south of Gettys¬ 
burg on Cemetery 
Ridge, a fishhook¬ 
shaped rocky ridge 
about two miles long. 

The Confederates occu¬ 
pied Seminary Ridge 
nearly opposite. 

On the open ground between the hills, the troops met in 
battle during the first three days of July, 1863. On the 
first day, the Confederates attacked one end of the Federal 
line without gaining any real advantage. On the second 
day, they attacked the other end, and the Union troops 
were forced back, but delay in obeying General Lee’s 
orders to attack gave the Federals time to strengthen and 
hold their position. The last hope of the Confederates 
was to break the Federal center; on the third day, they 






314 


SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1863 


attempted to do this. ‘ Pickett’s charge ’ is world-famous. 
As his division advanced, supported by troops under Petti¬ 
grew and Trimble, men fell before the Union guns like 
grain before the reaper, but the ranks closed, and the troops 
marched up the ridge. Their daring charge broke the 
Union line, but they could not hold the position and fell 
back, — a shattered remnant. 

In this bloody battle, the Federals lost one-fourth of their 
88,000 men and the Confederates one-third of their 75,000. 
Lee withdrew his army into Virginia. At Gettysburg, the 
tide of war turned in the East against the Confederates. 

Surrender of Vicksburg [July 4].— Meanwhile, Federal 
success continued in the West. The day after the battle 
of Gettysburg, Vicksburg surrendered. For months, 
General Grant had been attempting to take the city. Plan 
after plan of attack had been tried and had failed. At 
last, Generals Grant and Sherman gained control of the 
surrounding country and their army drew a line, fifteen 
miles long, around Vicksburg. As the besieging army came 
closer, shot and shell rained in the city so that people left 
their homes and took refuge in caves dug in the bluffs. 
Provisions were scarce. People had scanty rations of corn 
meal mixed with pea meal; they had no meat except rats 
and * mule steak.’ After a six-weeks’ siege, the garrison, 
reduced by sickness and starvation, surrendered to the 
Federals. 

Surrender of Port Hudson. — Five days later, Port Hud¬ 
son was surrendered. This gave the Federals control 
of the Mississippi River, and cut off Louisiana, Arkansas, 
and Texas from the eastern states of the Confederacy. To 
the end of the war, however, Confederate troops made their 
way across the river, in spite of the blockade. 

Fighting in Tennessee and Georgia.—While fleets and 
armies were fighting for the control of the Mississippi, a 


i86 3 ] 


DISCORD, SECESSION, AND WAR 


315 


struggle was going on for the possession of Tennessee and 
northern Georgia. At Murfreesboro, the Confederates, 
under General Bragg, were repulsed by the Federals under 
General Rosecrans [December 31, 1862-January 2, 1863], 
and compelled to retreat. In the autumn, General Bragg 
retired toward Chattanooga; he remained in that neigh¬ 
borhood several months; then he abandoned the city and 
met the Union army in the open field. 

Battle of Chickamauga [September 19, 20]. —At Chicka- 
mauga Creek, in northwestern Georgia, there was fought 
one of the most fiercely- 
contested battles of the 
war. In the second- 
day’s fight, the Union 
line was broken; the 
Confederates pushed 
forward into the gap 
and drove back the 
right and center. Only 
the left held firm. With 
defeat around him and 
disorder behind, Gen¬ 
eral Thomas, ‘the rock 
of Chickamauga,’ held 
his men steady and 
with the bayonet forced 
back the Confederates. 

His firm courage kept 
the defeat from being 
a disastrous rout. Gen¬ 
eral Rosecrans retreated to Chattanooga, followed by 
General Bragg. 

Fighting around Chattanooga. —Chattanooga, ‘ the south¬ 
ern gateway in the Appalachian wall,’ is on the east bank 









* 7*1 



General W. T. Sherman 


General George B. McClellan 




General U. S. Grant 



Admiral David G. Farragut 


General George Thomas 


UNION COMMANDERS 









DISCORD, SECESSION, AND WAR 


317 


1863] 

of the Tennessee River. Chattanooga Valley, two miles 
wide, lies between the city and a steep, narrow mountain, 
called Missionary Ridge; on the other side of Mission¬ 
ary Ridge is Chickamauga Valley, the scene of the battle 
already described. Three miles south of Chattanooga is 
Lookout Mountain. Bragg’s army extended in a semi-circle 



Battle of Lookout Mountain 


on the hills from Missionary Ridge to Lookout Mountain 
and cut off supplies from the city. 

The most important task before the Federals in the 
autumn was the relief of the hard-pressed forces shut up in 
Chattanooga. This was undertaken by a great army led 
by Grant who had been put in charge of the Army of the 
West; he was aided by three other famous general,— 
Sherman, Thomas, and Sheridan. 

To dislodge Bragg, it was necessary to capture Lookout 



318 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1863 

Mountain and Missionary Ridge. This was done in three- 
days’ fighting [November 23-25]. Under cover of a thick 
fog, the Federals stormed the heights of Lookout Moun¬ 
tain ; this battle is often called ‘ the battle above the clouds.’ 
Then the Federals pressed up steep Missionary Ridge, 
obstructed by rocks and fallen timber, lost one-fifth of their 
number, but never faltered, and took the ridge. These 
victories at Chattanooga gave the Federals control of east¬ 
ern Tennessee; Bragg withdrew into Georgia. 

State of affairs. — By the end of the year, it was evident 
that the South was losing ground. Gettysburg, Vicks¬ 
burg, Chattanooga, all told the same tale. In the West, 
the Confederates had been forced back everywhere, resist¬ 
ing stubbornly but in vain. The whole southern coast was 
blockaded by northern fleets. In the East, Lee still kept 
back the Federal army, and it seemed as far as ever from 
its goal, Richmond. But every day the Union army grew 
larger and the Confederate smaller. The North had 
abundant men and means. The South was nearing the 
end of its resources. Nine-tenths of the southern men were 
in the army; there were not men at home to replace the 
killed, wounded, and captured. 

Summary [1863]. — In January, President Lincoln issued his Eman¬ 
cipation Proclamation, declaring the slaves free in seceded states. A 
few months later, the western counties of Virginia were formed into a 
state called West Virginia. In the East, the Confederates held their 
ground. The Federals under Hooker were defeated in the battle of 
Chancellorsville, where Jackson was killed. Lee then marched into 
Pennsylvania, and after a great battle at Gettysburg retreated to Vir¬ 
ginia. In the West, Federal successes continued. Vicksburg and Port 
Hudson were taken, giving the Federals control of the Mississippi. 
Several fierce battles were fought in Tennessee and Georgia, at Mur¬ 
freesboro and Chickamauga and around Chattanooga, which secured 
Tennessee for the Federals. 


1864] 


DISCORD, SECESSION, AND WAR 


319 


7. The Events of 1864 

Grant in command in East. — Grant, the victorious leader 
of the Union armies in the West, was made lieutenant- 
general and given command of all the Federal troops. 
He took the field at the head of the Army of the Poto¬ 
mac against Lee in command of the Army of Northern 
Virginia. A final struggle was at hand between the two 
great generals. Both had veteran troops, seasoned by 
battles and campaigns. Lee had 62,000 men and could 
get no more; his ragged troops lacked not only military 
supplies, but often bread and meat. Grant had 122,000 
men and could get as many more as he wanted; his army 
was well equipped and was followed on its march by a 
wagon train, fifty miles long, bearing supplies. 

Battle of the Wilderness [May 5, 6]. — Grant advanced 
into the swampy, wooded region south of Fredericksburg, 
called the Wilderness. Near the field of Chancellorsville, 
there was a bloody two-days’ battle. Where the fight was 
fiercest, dead and wounded men lay in heaps. The forest 
caught fire, and many wounded men were burned alive. 

From this field of horror, Grant sent a dispatch, saying, 
with grim resolve, “ I propose to fight it out on this line if 
it takes all summer.” 

Lee’s retreat. — The Union and Confederate armies 
marched south on parallel lines. By pressing forward on 
the flank, Grant compelled Lee to fall back in order to 
protect Richmond. Lee retreated, handling his army so 
that the march was like a long battle or a moving siege. 
At favorable places, he made a stand and gave battle. 

Sheridan, at the head of a body of cavalry, made a 
famous raid [May 9-24], riding around Lee’s army and 
destroying supplies and telegraph and railroad lines; in 
two weeks, he rejoined Grant. 


320 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1864 

Battle of Spottsylvania [May 10]. — At first, Grant tried 
to win victories by vigorous fighting, as he had done in the 
West; but Lee managed his army so skillfully that this 
‘ hammering ’ plan did not succeed. There was a hard- 
fought battle at Spottsylvania Courthouse ; at ‘ the bloody 



angle’ the fighting was so fierce that trees were cut down by 
shot and shell. Grant was repulsed, but his purpose was not 
shaken. He ordered the army to advance. Formerly the 
Federals had fallen back after defeat; now as the troops were 
ordered South, cheers greeted Grant’s resolve to ‘ fight it out.’ 

Boys in battle. — The most famous of the minor battles 
was that at New Market [May 15], known as ‘ the battle of 
the boys.’ The cadets from Virginia Military Institute joined 
the small Confederate force sent to repel the Federals in 
the Valley of Virginia. These schoolboys advanced like 
veterans, charged, and took the Federal guns. Without 
faltering they bore heavy losses and won the battle. 






:86 4 ] 


DISCORD, SECESSION, AND WAR 


321 


Battle of Cold Harbor [June 3]. — At Cold Harbor, fifteen 
miles from Richmond, Lee occupied a strong position, de¬ 
fended by swamps and thickets, and again gave battle. 
In an hour, the Federals lost 10,000 men. But after 
victory as after defeat, the Confederates had to fall back. 
By November, Grant had lost 80.000 men, — more than 
Lee had to begin with,—but others had taken their places, 
and the Union army moved forward with full ranks. 

Siege of Petersburg. — Richmond was so well protected 
on the north and the east that Grant resolved to attack it 
from the south. He attempted to take Petersburg, twenty- 
two miles south of Richmond. Petersburg was an im¬ 
portant Confederate stronghold through which passed 
railroads to the south and west; it was defended with des¬ 
perate valor. In order to protect Richmond and Peters¬ 
burg, Lee’s little army had to form a line twenty-five miles 
long; it was necessary to place the men far apart so as to 
cover this distance, and they had to be constantly on guard 
against attack. The great Federal army was drawn up 
beyond them, in a line thirty-five miles long. 

The Federals dug a mine near Petersburg and attempted 
to blow up the Confederate works [July 31]; but the 
Crater, as it was called, proved a death trap ; about 4000 
Federals were killed or taken captive, and the charge was 
repulsed. Grant resolved not to sacrifice more lives in 
attacks like the Crater and Cold Harbor. His army built 
earthworks and settled down opposite the Confederates in 
a nine-months’ siege. 

Campaign in Shenandoah Valley. — Meanwhile, there 
was fighting in the Shenandoah Valley which had been the 
scene of Jackson’s masterly campaign. During the spring, 
there were several skirmishes and battles. In the summer, 
a Confederate force under General Jubal Early was sent 
to make a campaign in the valley and threaten Washington, 
y 


322 


SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1864 


It was hoped that this would draw off Grant from Peters¬ 
burg. Early’s troops marched in sight of the Capitol at 
Washington and burned Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. 

Grant, however, did not loosen his grip in Virginia. 
General Sheridan was sent with troops against General 
Early. The Confederates were defeated in the battle of 
Winchester [September 19] and retreated up the valley. 
Sheridan followed. He found the fertile valley a scene of 
harvest plenty, its barns heaped with grain and hay, its 
pastures full of sheep and cattle. He burned mills, houses, 
and tools, destroyed crops, drove off stock, and left the 
valley “a barren waste,” so that “ crows flying over it . . . 
will have to carry their provender with them.” Sheridan 
wished to deprive Confederate soldiers of supplies; in order 
to do this, he reduced to want all of the Valley people, 
most of whom were helpless women and children. 

Campaign in West. — While Grant was marching through 
Virginia, a Union army of over 100,000 men under com¬ 
mand of General Sherman was going through Georgia. 
The day that Grant began his march to Richmond, Sher¬ 
man started from Chattanooga to Atlanta [May 4]. At¬ 
lanta was an important place for several reasons: it was a 
great railroad center; from it supplies of all kinds were 
shipped, and in its shops and foundries war materials were 
manufactured. The Confederates had about 70,000 men 
in Georgia under General Joseph E. Johnston, who had 
replaced Bragg after the defeat at Chattanooga. 

General Johnston was a brave, prudent, and able gen¬ 
eral, who, like Lee, could use a small force with good 
effect against superior numbers. He realized that with 
his small army his only hope of victory was in waiting 
until the Federals were far from their sources of supplies 
and in choosing his own ground for attack. Avoiding all 
Sherman’s attempts to force a decisive engagement, he 


86 4 ] 


DISCORD, SECESSION, AND WAR 


323 


made a skillful, cautious retreat through northern Georgia, 
fighting almost daily battles in favorable places. 

Johnston replaced by Hood.—The Confederate govern¬ 
ment grew impatient of Johnston’s course and removed 
him. General Hood, a brave officer who lacked Johnston’s 
cautious judgment, was put in charge. Instead of pursu¬ 
ing a guarded retreat, Hood fought several battles in which 
he was outnumbered and defeated. Sherman finally threw 
part of his army south of Atlanta, and Hood had to abandon 
the city in order to avoid being shut up there. He moved 
north into Tennessee, hoping by cutting off Sherman’s sup¬ 
plies to force the Federals to follow. But Sherman’s army 
was so large that he left Thomas with troops to outnum¬ 
ber and fight Hood, and continued his southward march. 
Hood was defeated at Nashville [December 15]. This 
defeat practically ended the war in the West. 

Sherman’s march to the sea. — Sherman took Atlanta, 
destroyed its mills, foundries, factories, railroads, and tel¬ 
egraph lines, and made the city a military garrison. When 
protests were made against this ‘cruelty,’ he answered, 
“War is cruelty, and you cannot refine it.” 

With an army of 60,000 men, Sherman left the smok¬ 
ing ruins of Atlanta and started to the southern coast. 
Instead of depending on the North for supplies, he foraged 
on the country. Like Sheridan in the Shenandoah Valley, 
he treated the whole country as ‘contraband of war.’ He 
reported that on this march his army used property worth 
$20,000,000 and destroyed property to the value of 
$80,000,000. He was followed by thousands of negroes 
and by lawless stragglers called ‘ Sherman’s bummers.’ 
On the march of three hundred miles, a belt of fertile 
country sixty miles wide was laid waste. Houses were 
robbed and burned, crops and supplies were consumed or 
destroyed, railroads were torn up. The country was filled 


SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1864 


3H 

with hungry women and children who had fled from their 
burning homes. A few days after Hood was defeated at 
Nashville, Sherman entered the city of Savannah [Decem¬ 
ber 22], where he was joined by the fleet. 



Sherman’s March to the Sea 


Capture of coast cities. — Before Sherman entered Savan¬ 
nah, the fleet had gained control of nearly all cities on the 
southern coast. The summer before, Admiral Farragut had 
taken Mobile [August 5]. Knowing that the harbor was 
defended by mines, he lashed his ships together in pairs, 
so that if one were disabled it might have help at hand. 
The first vessel which entered the harbor was sunk by a 
torpedo. Instead of hesitating or drawing back, Farragut 
signaled “go ahead,” entered the harbor, and took the 
city. After Mobile was captured, Charleston, South Caro¬ 
lina, and Fort Fisher, which defended the approach to 
Wilmington in North Carolina, were the only important 
ports in the hands of the Confederates. Through these, a 
few daring blockade runners brought arms, clothing, and 
medicine to the Confederacy. Fort Fisher was taken after 








i86 5 ] DISCORD, SECESSION, AND WAR 325 

a bloody struggle early the next year, and Charleston was 
occupied by the Federals a few weeks later. 

Summary [1864]. — General Grant was given charge of the Union 
armies. He took the field in the East and advanced with a large army 
toward Richmond, being opposed on the way by an army under General 
Lee. Several bloody battles were fought, — the Wilderness, Spottsyl- 
vania, and Cold Harbor, — and then Grant began a nine-months’ siege 
of Richmond and Petersburg. General Sherman marched southward 
from Chattanooga with a great army. He was opposed, first, by General 
Johnston who led a skillful retreat; then, by General Hood who en¬ 
gaged in battle, was defeated, returned to Tennessee, and was finally 
defeated at Nashville by General Thomas. Sherman took Atlanta, 
then marched to Savannah, laying waste the country. Mobile was 
taken by the fleet, and a few months later Charleston and Fort Fisher 
were taken. 

8. The End of the War 

Peace Conference [February 3, 1865]. — Early in February, 
President Lincoln met some Confederate officials at Hamp¬ 
ton Roads to discuss terms of peace. The Confederates 
demanded the recognition of their government and Lin¬ 
coln’s first requirement was that the seceded states should 
return to the Union, — so nothing was accomplished by 
the conference. 

Sherman’s march through Carolinas. — That same 
month, Sherman started with his army from Savannah to 
join Grant in Virginia. It was a long, difficult march of 
several hundred miles, through swampy, wooded country. 
Roads had to be cut and bridges built on the way. In the 
Carolinas as on the march through Georgia, Sherman’s 
army left ruin behind it. Columbia, the capital of South 
Carolina, was taken and burned. Until North Carolina 
was reached, there was practically no fighting. There the 
Federals encountered an army under Johnston. He 
fought stubbornly and managed his small force skillfully, 


326 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1865 


but he could not check the march of Sherman’s great 
army. 

Lee’s retreat from Richmond. — In Virginia, Lee, who 
had been made general in chief of the Confederate forces, 
still confronted Grant. His army, wasted by disease and 
battle, consisted of 57,000 men. Among Lee’s losses was 



A Pontoon Bridge 


the death of his able lieutenant, General A. P. Hill. Early 
in April, the line which had so long protected Richmond 
was broken, and the Confederate government had to aban¬ 
don its capital. Hoping to unite with Johnston’s army, Lee 
attempted to march toward Danville. But supplies were 
sent past the point he had ordered them, and he had to wait 
to get food for his soldiers. This gave the Federals time 
to cut off the southern route. Lee turned toward Lynch¬ 
burg, only to find Sheridan’s cavalry between him and that 
place. In the rain and mud, his hungry, tired, heroic men 













1865] 


DISCORD, SECESSION, AND WAR 


327 


kept up a running fight for fifty miles. The Confederate 
army was reduced to 27,000 men ; the Federals had 125,000. 
To continue the hopeless contest would be a useless sacrifice 
of life. 

“There is now but one course to pursue,” said General 
Lee. “We must accept the situation ; these men must go 
home and plant a crop; and we must proceed to build up 
our country on a new basis.” 

Lee’s surrender [April 9]. — On the ninth of April, 1865, 
General Lee met General Grant at Appomattox Court¬ 
house to arrange terms of surrender. It was a courteous, 
grave interview. Honorable terms were granted. The 
Confederate soldiers were to go home, and Grant said that 
they were “not to be disturbed by the United States au¬ 
thority so long as they observed their parole and the laws 
in force where they reside.” They were allowed to keep 
their horses, “because,” Grant said with kindly thought¬ 
fulness, “they would need them for the spring plowing 
and farm work.” When Lee said that his soldiers had no 
food except parched corn, Grant promptly agreed to supply 
them rations. 

Lee drew up his troops and bade his soldiers farewell: 
“ Men, we have fought through the war together,” he said ; 
“ I have done my best for you.” 

Johnston’s surrender [April 26]. — Two weeks later, 
Johnston in North Carolina surrendered to Sherman. 

The end had come. The great Union army of a million 
men was disbanded and returned home, amid the rejoicings 
of victory ; the little Confederate army of fewer than 200,000 
men, saddened by defeat, turned homeward to a country 
ruined by war, which had to be built up “ on a new basis.” 

Results of war. — The War of Secession settled forever 
two questions which had long been sources of dissension: 
secession as a right of states, and slavery. The seced- 


328 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1865 


ing states had been forced back into the Union by the 
majority which said that a state had no right to leave 
the Union. Henceforth, there might be questions as to 
the exact powers of a state, but there was no longer any 
question as to secession. After the War of Secession, 
the Union was an ‘indestructible union of indestructible 
states/ Slavery, so long a source of discord between 
the sections, was abolished. The slaves in the seceded 
states had been freed by Lincoln’s Emancipation Procla¬ 
mation. Near the close of the war, Congress adopted and 
submitted to the states the Thirteenth Amendment to 
the Constitution, abolishing slavery forever in the United 
States. 

These ends had been gained at frightful cost. Nearly 
a million lives had been sacrificed in battle, prison, or 
disease. Thirty thousand Union soldiers died in Confed¬ 
erate prisons; about the same number of Confederate 
soldiers died in Union prisons. 

Condition of South. — That the war lasted so long, in 
spite of the South’s inferiority in population, wealth, and 
resources, was due to its able generals and to the devoted 
efforts of its people. ‘The North spent freely of its abun¬ 
dance, but the South gave all that it had.’ One-fourth of 
ihe men of the South gave their lives for the ‘ Lost 
Cause.’ The country was laid waste, and people were 
reduced to desperate straits. Railroads, bridges, mills, 
houses, and farm tools were destroyed. Crops, stock, and 
supplies of all kinds were used by the southern armies or 
seized by the northern ones. A southern woman told a 
Union soldier that ‘she herself drew the plow while her 
feeble old husband held it to prepare the soil for all the 
corn they raised.’ 

Throughout the war, most of the slaves proved faithfui 
and devoted servants. They planted, tended, and gath- 


:86 5 ] 


DISCORD, SECESSION, AND WAR 


329 


ered the crops, and cared for the women and children. 
A slave-rising would have destroyed the Confederacy, for 
every southern man would have turned from northern 
battle fields to defend his home. But no slave-rising came. 

The private and public means of the South were spent 
to raise and support armies. The Confederate government 
issued bonds and notes, and heaped up a great war debt. 



The value of its paper money steadily decreased as it be¬ 
came more and more probable that the government would 
never be able to redeem it with coin. During the last year 
of the war, a Confederate paper dollar was worth only one 
cent and a half in coin. A newspaper sold for a dollar, a 
barrel of flour cost $1500, and a pound of butter twenty 
dollars. A few days before Lee retreated from Peters¬ 
burg, a boy came to that city bringing on his arm a basket 
containing a few newspapers and some apples and pea¬ 
nuts; he spld them for $14,000 in Confederate money. 













330 


SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1865 


Condition of North. — During the war, the North ad¬ 
vanced in wealth and population. Agriculture flourished, 
and trade and manufactures increased. Thousands of miles 
of railway were built, and over four million acres of public 
land were occupied. Immigrants were attracted by a new 
Homestead Act [1862], under which a tract of land was 
given to the head of each family that would settle on it. 

New states. — During the war, two new states were 
admitted to the Union : West Virginia was formed [1863], 
and Nevada was admitted [1864]. Nevada, the third state 
formed from the Mexican cession, was settled rapidly after 
the discovery of its silver mines, which are among the 
richest in the world. 

Financial affairs. — During the war, the Federal govern¬ 
ment laid income, stamp, and other taxes to raise money, 
‘ the sinews of war.’ Tariff rates were raised. Money was 
borrowed on government credit, by issuing bonds, — in¬ 
terest-bearing notes promising payment at a certain time. 
Paper money, called ‘ greenbacks’ from the color, was 
issued and was made legal tender,—that is, it must be 
accepted if offered in payment for debts. Its value de¬ 
clined, at one time, to less than half its face value, and for 
many years it was worth less than ‘ hard money,’ or specie. 
Specie almost went out of circulation ; people who had gold 
and silver coins kept them, being unwilling to exchange 
them for paper money of varying and doubtful value. 
National banks were formed which bought United States 
bonds and issued, on the security of these bonds, notes 
that, like greenbacks, had behind them the credit of the 
government. 

At the end of the war, the United States had a debt of 
three billion dollars. Many people thought that the gov¬ 
ernment would never pay this vast sum, the interest on 
which was $150,000,000 a year. But its payment was 


i86sl 


DISCORD, SECESSION, AND WAR 


331 


begun the year after the war ended and every dollar of this 
war debt has been settled. 

Cost of War of Secession. — It is estimated that in money 
this great war cost the North about $10,000,000,000, and 
the South twice as much; both sides had armies to sup¬ 
port, and the South was deprived of its slave property and 
impoverished, and laid waste by Federal forces. Think 
what it would have meant in the advancement of the 
country if the vast sums spent to support armies had 
been devoted to the progress of peace! 

In addition to war-time expenses, billions of dollars have 
been paid in pensions to soldiers and their families. The 
Federal pension system has become so wasteful, so corrupt, 
so burdensome to the nation that it is condemned by the 
best men, North and South ; but it continues and flourishes. 

Besides the tremendous cost in money, the war cost 
nearly a million lives. That means that hundreds of 
thousands of the country’s best — for it is the brave, able 
young men that war claims as its victims — lost their lives; 
that nearly a million homes were made desolate by their 
deaths ; that the physical, mental, and moral upbuilding of 
the nation was checked by the loss of so many of its best 
citizens. 

Nor does the cost of this great war end here. As we 
read, in the story of the following years, about unjust sec¬ 
tional legislation, about dishonest ‘rings’ controlling cities 
and business, and about corruption in high places, let us 
remember that these, too, were a part of the cost of war. 
During those four years of strife, law and order were set 
aside and there followed a demoralization of which wicked 
men took advantage and by which weak men were cor¬ 
rupted. 

From this terrible conflict, let us learn that differences 
between states and nations, like those between individuals, 


332 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1865 

ought to be decided according to the principles of law and 
justice and that peace should be the constant aim and 
demand of every civilized nation. 

Lincoln assassinated.—While Grant was facing Lee at 
Richmond and Sherman was marching northward through 
the Carolinas, President Lincoln began his second term. 
One month later, in Ford’s Theater in Washington, the 
president was shot and he died the next day [April 15]. 
The assassin, John Wilkes Booth, an actor, escaped for 
the time, but was overtaken and shot. Four persons, in¬ 
cluding one woman, who were suspected of having been 
engaged in a conspiracy with him were hanged. 

The death of Lincoln was a great loss to the country. 
He had guided the United States in troubled times with 
tact, moderation, firmness, wisdom. His loss to the South 
was even greater than to the North, for his supreme desire 
was to have peace and harmony in the restored Union. 
The words of his second inaugural address yet echoed in 
men’s ears : “ With malice toward none, with charity for 
all, with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the 
right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind 
up the nation’s wounds ... to do all which may achieve 
and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and 
with all nations.” 

He believed that a state had no right to leave the 
Union, and so he regarded the seceded states as in the 
Union but controlled by rebellious persons. Thus, he 
thought, the ‘proper relations’ of the state to the Union 
were destroyed. As the end of the war drew evidently 
near, he was planning to restore these ‘ proper relations.’ 
He offered pardon and restoration to citizenship and 
property to all except a few classes of persons if they 
would take the oath of loyalty to the Union; he invited 
these to reorganize the governments of their states. 


: 86 S ] 


DISCORD, SECESSION, AND WAR 


333 


The negro question Lincoln considered settled by the 
Thirteenth Amendment, of which he said, “ It winds the 
whole thing up.” 

Davis’s imprisonment [1865-1867]. — The president of 
the fallen Confederacy, too, was a victim to the excited 
passions of the time. Mr. Davis was confined two years 
in Fortress Monroe on a charge of treason, and then was 
released without being tried, although he and his friends 
desired his trial in order to bring into court the legal ques¬ 
tion of secession and States’ Rights. His high character 
and ability and the fact that he was imprisoned as the 
representative of their ‘ Lost Cause ’ endeared him to the 
southern people. 

Summary [1865]. — Sherman marched from Savannah through the 
Carolinas to join Grant. He met no resistance, except in North Caro¬ 
lina from a small Confederate army under Johnston. Lee’s lines around 
Richmond were broken, and he retreated westward ; but he was hemmed 
in, and at Appomattox Courthouse, on April 9, 1865, he surrendered to 
Grant. Two weeks later, Johnston surrendered to Sherman. The 
War of Secession settled the questions of secession and slavery; it 
cost nearly a million lives and billions of dollars. Five days after 
General Lee surrendered, President Lincoln was assassinated. 


CHAPTER VII 


NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT 
i. Johnson’s Term [1865-1869] 

Republican 

President Johnson. — When Lincoln died, Andrew John¬ 
son of Tennessee became president. Johnson was a self- 
made man, able, honest, and resolute, who belonged to the 

class called in the South 
‘ poor whites.’ As a child, 
he went from a North Caro¬ 
lina cabin to a workshop. 
He learned to read by study¬ 
ing at night after doing his 
day’s work as a tailor ; after 
he was married, his wife 
taught him to write. Like 
Lincoln, this unschooled, 
untrained man made his way 
in public life by his own 
energy and ability. There 
the resemblance ended. Rising from humble place to high 
position, Lincoln gained breadth and wisdom at every step. 
Johnson was a self-willed m&n who made enemies where 
he should have gained friends. 

Spirit of times. — Never was a great, wise man more 
needed at the head of the government than now. Sec- 

334 



Andrew Johnson 




i86 S ] NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT 335 

tional feeling had blazed higher and higher during the 
four long years of war, and was made more intense on 
the one side by defeat and on the other side by victory 
and by Lincoln’s tragic death. Could the opposing flames 
be united and made to burn with the spirit of patriotism 
and national unity ? The greatest men of both sections 
believed that this could and should be done. 

“ We are all one country now. Dismiss all sectional 
feeling,” said General Lee. 

“ I am satisfied the mass of thinking men in the South 
accept the present situation of affairs in good faith,” said 
General Grant. “ The questions which have hitherto 
divided the sentiment of the people of the two sections — 
slavery and state rights — or the right of the state to 
secede from the Union—they regard as having been 
settled forever.” 

Southern state governments. — Southern men set to 
work to build up their communities “ on a new basis,” as 
free states. They formed state governments on the plan 
adopted by Lincoln; they repealed their secession ordi¬ 
nances ; they ratified the Thirteenth Amendment, freeing 
the slaves ; they elected senators and representatives to 
Congress. 

In addition to the disorder caused by war, there was 
the disorder caused by 4,000,000 newly-freed slaves, “a 
laboring, landless, homeless class,” as Lincoln described 
them. The old course of their life was upset, and they 
could not at once adjust themselves to a new one. They 
roamed about the country, refusing to work and supplying 
their needs by begging or stealing. To check idleness, 
which was breeding want and crime, several southern 
states passed strict labor and vagrancy laws. 

Attitude of Congress. — Such was the condition of affairs 
when Congress met after eight-months’ recess. Congress 


336 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE fi866 


disapproved the presidential plan of dealing with the 
seceded states, formed by Lincoln and being carried out by 
Johnson. It resolved to take control of southern affairs 
and regulate them according to its own will. 

Fourteenth Amendment [1866].— The names of the rep¬ 
resentatives and senators elected by the southern states were 
omitted from the roll call of Congress. Before the southern 
states were restored to a share in the government, Congress 
wished a new amendment added to the Constitution. This, 
the Fourteenth Amendment, said that all persons born or 
naturalized in the United States should have equal rights 
under its laws, and that all persons who had held state or 
Federal office and had taken part in secession should be 
excluded from office. It gave the negro freedmen all the 
rights enjoyed by white men, except the ballot. 

The Republican congressmen who offered this amend¬ 
ment said that, in order to keep the negroes from being 
reenslaved by their former masters, it was necessary to 
make the freedmen citizens of the United States. They 
asserted that the southern labor and vagrancy laws — which 
were much like those of some New England states — were 
plans to reenslave the negro. They did not stop to con¬ 
sider that if the southern people were foolish enough to 
make such plans, they would be powerless to carry them 
out; all affairs concerning the negroes’ work, contracts, 
homes, and schools were in the hands of the Freedmen’s 
Bureau, a branch of the War Department. 

The northern states, one after another, accepted the Four¬ 
teenth Amendment; the southern states, one after another, 
rejected it. Many people at the North thought, like the 
people of the South, that the ignorant, untrained negroes 
were as unfit for citizenship as so many children. Why, 
then, did they vote to give the freedmen citizenship ? 
Some believed that the negroes could soon be educated to 


1867] 


NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT 


337 


fulfill their duties as citizens; the radicals were animated 
by a bitter desire to “ put the white South under the heel 
of the black South ” ; the politicians desired negro citizen¬ 
ship because they thought that it would give their party 
control of the South,— for it was supposed that every 
negro would always adhere to the party which gave him 
civil equality. 

Reconstruction Acts [March-July, 1867]. — The rejection 
of the Fourteenth Amendment by ten southern states only 
made Congress more determined to carry out its measures. 
It passed a series of Reconstruction Acts for the govern¬ 
ment of the southern states whereby they were deprived of 
statehood and were grouped in five military districts, under 
command of military governors. By a strange contra¬ 
diction, Congress held that the southern states were not 
out of the Union—but that they had to come back into 
it; that they had no share in the United States gov¬ 
ernment— yet their votes were counted in adopting the 
Thirteenth Amendment, and they were required to accept 
the Fourteenth. 

The leader in reconstruction measures was Thaddeus 
Stevens of Pennsylvania. He wished to confiscate the 
estates of ‘ rebels ’; to give each negro forty acres of 
this land and to use the balance to pay the war debt. He 
proposed that South Carolina be divided between North 
Carolina and Georgia, so as to blot from the map the state 
which led in secession. 

Impeachment of President Johnson [1868]. — President 
Johnson opposed the reconstruction plans of Congress. 
Like Lincoln, he said that no state had a right to leave the 
Union and that ‘the Union was unbroken ’; he held that 
the president, to whom the pardoning power belongs, 
could restore secessionists to their rights as citizens, and 
that these citizens could form state governments and elect 


338 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1868 


members to Congress. He said that if Congress refused to 
receive these members, it had no right to make laws for the 
unrepresented southern states. Johnson vetoed the acts 
of Congress and it ‘ vetoed his veto ’ by passing bills in spite 
of his opposition. It went farther. It passed an act saying 
that the president must not remove civil officeholders — as 
all the presidents before him had done — without the 
consent of the Senate. 

Johnson refused to obey this act, and dismissed the 
Secretary of War. The president was impeached by the 
House, — that is, he was accused of having disobeyed 
the laws and was tried ; if found guilty by the Senate, he 
would be removed from office. Only one vote was lacking 
of the two-thirds necessary to convict him. 

Nebraska admitted to Union [1867].— While Johnson 
was president, Nebraska, a fertile farming state, was ad¬ 
mitted to the Union. 

Alaska purchase. -— By purchase and by protest, the 
Monroe Doctrine was upheld. 

Alaska was bought from Russia for $7,200,000. People 
at the time complained that the purchase was “ a waste of 
money on rocks and ice fit only for a polar-bear garden.” 
We now think that $7,200,000 were well spent to acquire 
this territory which contains a half million square miles of 
land, is rich in gold, coal, furs, and timber, and has valua¬ 
ble seal, cod, and salmon fisheries. 

Revolution in Mexico.—The year that Alaska was bought, 
there was a revolution in Mexico. During the War of 
Secession, the Emperor of France sent troops to Mexico 
and established an empire there. The United States 
protested against this interference with an American 
republic, but the protest was unheeded. After the war, 
when the United States was able to enforce its protest by 
arms, it informed the French that it would be “ gravely 


NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT 


339 


1867] 

inconvenient ” for the army to remain in Mexico. France 
yielded and withdrew its troops. A revolution took place, 
and the Mexican republic was reestablished. 

Summary [1865-1869]. — Andrew Johnson of Tennessee, the sev¬ 
enteenth president, was the third vice president to hold that office. 
During his presidency, Nebraska was admitted to the Union. Alaska 
was purchased from Russia for $7,200,000, and the French were re¬ 
quired to withdraw from Mexico. Congress ruled the South by means 
of severe Reconstruction Acts; ten southern states were divided into 
five districts under military governors. President Johnson was im¬ 
peached by Congress because he opposed its reconstruction plans, and 
only one vote was lacking of the number necessary to convict him. 


2. Grant’s Terms [1869-1877] 

Republican 

President Grant. —Johnson was succeeded as president 
by General Grant, the great soldier who had led to success 
the army of the Union. Grant was an honest, straight¬ 
forward, simple-hearted man; he had had little experience 
in politics, and he was influenced and sometimes misled by 
shrewd and corrupt men. “ Let us have peace,” he said, 
weary of sectional strife after the war was over; but the 
radicals continued to control Congress, and there was no 
real peace nor harmony. 

Fifteenth Amendment [1870]. —The Fifteenth Amend¬ 
ment was passed in order to give the negro the right to vote, 
— the only civil right not given to him by the Fourteenth 
Amendment, — and to secure this right by making it a part 
of the Constitution. This amendment said that “ the right 
of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be 
denied or abridged by the United States or by any state 
on account of race, color, or previous condition of 
servitude.” 


340 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1870 


Lee’s death. —The year that the Fifteenth Amendment 
was passed, General Robert E. Lee died at Lexington, Vir¬ 
ginia. After the war, he refused high-salaried positions, be¬ 
came the president of a small college, now Washington and 
Lee University, and devoted himself to training youths for 
capable, useful manhood. He urged the men of the South 
to do their duty as citizens in the restored Union. 

“ Duty,” he said, “ is the sublimest word in our language. 
Do your duty in all things, like the old Puritan. You 
cannot do more, you should never wish to do less.” 

‘ Carpetbag ’ rule in South. — After ratifying the Thir¬ 
teenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth amendments, according 
to the requirements of Congress, the seceded states were 
readmitted to the Union. The radical reconstruction plan 
had now been carried out. What was the result ? 

There was distress and disorder throughout the South. 
Acts of Congress required every officeholder to take the 
‘ iron-clad oath,’ saying that he had not taken part in seces¬ 
sion. This shut out nearly all native white men, except 
the lowest class called ‘ scalawags.’ Most of the voters 
were ignorant, untrained negroes. They were under the 
control of the ‘ scalawags’ and of ‘ carpetbaggers,’ — men 
from the North who came South to get political power. 
Important and profitable offices were held by these 
scalawags and carpetbaggers. Many small offices were 
held by negroes who could not read nor write. 

The carpetbag governments passed bad laws and wasted 
or stole the public money. People impoverished by war 
were burdened with heavy taxes, and vast state debts were 
piled up. During carpetbag rule in South Carolina, taxes 
increased tenfold. In Mississippi, about six hundred and 
fifty thousand acres of land — one-fifth of the state—were 
sold for taxes. Less than five years of this rule cost 
Louisiana over a hundred million dollars. Reconstruction 


1870] 


NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT 


34 i 


misrule welded all men, all parties, all states together, and 
formed the ‘solid South.’ 

The greatest harm done was to the negroes, the inferior 
race which was dealt with as an equal. The ignorant, 
credulous freedmen were told by the scalawags and carpet¬ 
baggers that the property of their former masters would 
be divided among them, and they were assured that if 
southern white men returned to power, they would be made 
slaves again. Expecting to be supported whether they 
worked or not, the negroes became idle and disorderly; 
crime increased rapidly. Old kindly relations between 
them and the white people were destroyed, and feelings of 
distrust, dislike, and hate were excited. The race just 
emerging from savagery and bondage was arrayed against 
the race which has back of it the civilization of a thousand 
years. 

Ku Klux Klan. — Southern white men resolved to rid 
themselves by any means of the. incapable, extravagant, 
corrupt carpetbag governments. Denied public rights, 
they used private means. The Ku Klux Klan, formed 
first as a secret social club, widened into a secret police 
force. Bands of armed, masked men rode abroad at night 
on horses draped in white. These night riders frightened, 
whipped, drove away, or eveft murdered mischief-making 
negroes and whites. Other societies on the order of the 
Ku Klux Klan were formed. Their purpose was to put 
down disorder and crime, and to protect the oppressed. 
When they were controlled by good men, they accomplished 
a valuable work; when they were directed by reckless, 
mischievous men, they added lawlessness and violence to the 
evils of the time. Severe laws enforced by Federal troops 
crushed these secret organizations, but did not bring peace. 

Alabama claims. — During the war, several vessels for 
the Confederates had been fitted out in British ports. 


342 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1872 


The United States regarded this as a breach of neutrality, 
and presented claims for the damage done by the cruisers. 
These are called the * Alabama claims,’ from the name of 



Driving the Last Spike in the Transcontinental Railway 


the most famous of the vessels. After years of discussion, 
the United States and Great Britain agreed to settle the 
matter by arbitration. The arbitrators awarded the United 


















1872] 


NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT 


343 


States $15,500,000 damages [1872]. More valuable than 
the damages, was the example set by the two great coun¬ 
tries of settling disputes by arbitration instead of by war. 

Railway across continent [1869]. — A noteworthy event 
during Grant’s presidency was the completion of the 
first railway across the continent, the Union Pacific Rail¬ 
road. On it, men could cross the great continent in less 
time than it took a century before to travel from New York 
to Boston. The Union Pacific was followed by two other 
transcontinental railroads, the Northern and the Southern 
Pacific. Along these railroads came crowds of emigrants 
seeking homes in the great West. Buffalo grounds gave 
way to wheat farms and cattle ranches. Copper, silver, 
and gold were discovered and mined. Forts and trading- 
stations became villages and towns. The states along the 
railroad built up rapidly; territories began to look forward 
to statehood. 

Credit Mobilier. — The building of a railroad across the 
continent was a vast and expensive undertaking. As these 
roads were useful to the government as well as to the gen¬ 
eral public, government aid was asked. Congress gave 
them financial aid and immense grants of public land. 
Many men thought that the Union Pacific Railroad was 
given more than was necessary or just. It was charged 
and proved that, in return for help in securing these ap¬ 
propriations, public men were given stock in the Credit 
Mobilier, the corporation formed to carry on the business 
of the railroad. 

Salary grab [1873]. —For many years, Congress had 
gone far and often beyond what thoughtful men regarded 
as its proper limits according to the law of the Constitu¬ 
tion. Good men were demoralized by this course, weak men 
were corrupted, bad men were made bold. Congress 
passed an act increasing the salaries of its members; 


344 


SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1873 


the act was made to apply to the past two years as 
well as to the future. This ‘ Salary Grab/ as it was called 
throughout the country, aroused such general indignation 
that it was repealed. 

Panic of 1873. —The year of the ‘Salary Grab,’ there 
was a financial panic. Some people said that it was caused 
by an act of Congress—later called ‘the crime of ’ 73 ’ — 
which dropped the silver dollar from the list of authorized 
coins. Up to this time, both gold and silver had free coin¬ 
age, — that is, either metal could be taken to the treasury 
and exchanged for an equal weight of coin. If a man 
wished, he might get gold coins for his silver or silver coins 
for his gold, at the rate of sixteen ounces of silver to one 
of gold. This is called ‘ coinage at the ratio of sixteen to 
one/ 

Other people said that the panic was the natural result 
of speculation, credit business, and extensive railway build¬ 
ing. There was not enough money in the country to carry 
on the vast business undertaken, and people used notes, 
bonds, and mortgages. When they were called on to pay 
‘ hard money,’ they could not do so. Whatever the cause, 
the panic came. Failure followed failure ; for many years, 
business felt the effects of that winter of panic. 

‘Whisky Ring’ [1875]. — Panic was followed by new 
public scandals. A ‘ Whisky Ring ’ in the West was 
brought to light. Manufacturers of whisky were bribing 
government officials, and selling liquor without paying the 
government tax, thus robbing the government of millions 
of dollars. 

About the same time, the Secretary of War was accused 
of selling the privilege of trading at army posts, and he 
avoided investigation by resigning his office. 

Chicago and Boston fires. — Cities were growing rapidly, 
and their affairs were badly managed. They had poor 


NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT 


345 


1871] 

police and fire departments. A great fire swept the heart 
of Chicago [1871], making 100,000 people homeless and 
destroying many lives. The next year, there was a great 
fire in Boston. Safer and more beautiful buildings went 
up promptly in place of those destroyed, but improvements 
in city governments were slow. 

4 Tweed Ring’ [1869-1872]. — Taxes were high, and 
public officials grew rich, while cities had poor pavements, 
inadequate water supply, and bad sewerage systems. A 
notorious instance of mismanagement was New York City. 



Tweed Ring Cartoon 


For three years, it was ruled by a gang of corrupt men 
who took plunder to the amount of $100,000,000. ‘ Boss’ 

Tweed, the leader of the gang, openly defied those who 
protested. 

“ As long as I count the votes, what are you going to do 
about it ? Say ! ” he asked. 









346 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [187 


Samuel Tilden and other able, honest citizens showed 
him. They exposed the ‘ Tweed Ring,’ broke up the gang, 
and sent Tweed to prison. 

Affairs in South. — Meanwhile, reconstruction rule con¬ 
tinued in the South. Federal troops were used to uphold 
the carpetbag governments, but as the ‘ironclad oath 7 
was relaxed, southern white men came back into power. 
They were resolved to rule their states. Fair means seemed 
powerless against the force of arms and the number of 
ignorant and hostile voters. By various means — persua¬ 
sion, bribery, threats, fraud, and force — they gained and 
kept control of their state affairs. Government was re¬ 
formed, taxes were lessened, expenses were reduced. 

Woman’s Christian Temperance Union. — In these troubled 

times, a great reform 
was spreading through¬ 
out the country. This 
was the anti-liquor move¬ 
ment. Frances Willard 
and other earnest women 
formed the Woman’s 
Christian Temperance 
Union [1874], now the 
largest organization of 
women in the world. It 
secured laws against 
liquor, and it insisted on 
having literature put 
into school textbooks to 
warn children of the injurious effects of alcohol. 

Centennial Exhibition of 1876. — In honor of the hun¬ 
dredth anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, a 
Centennial Exhibition, or World’s Fair, was held at Phila¬ 
delphia. For America, this had been a busy, hard-work- 






1876] 


NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT 


347 


ing century. When leisure and wealth came, naturally 
the New World was far behind the Old in the beautiful 
arts. The exhibits from Europe were object lessons in 
beauty to millions of visitors to the Philadelphia Exposition. 
From this time, art and architecture were appreciated and 
cultivated in America as they had never been before. 

Colorado admitted to Union [1876].— During the centen¬ 
nial year, Colorado was admitted to the Union. A few 
years before, it had been a wilderness. It was settled 
rapidly after railroads were constructed and its rich de¬ 
posits of gold and silver were discovered. 

Indian wars.—Westward growth caused at each step 
new trouble with the Indians. They were crowded from 
their hunting grounds by the steadily-increasing number 
of immigrants, — cattlemen, miners, and farmers. During 
the War of Secession, there was a rising of the Sioux 
tribes in Minnesota, Iowa, and Dakota; a thousand white 
settlers were killed and thousands were driven from their 
homes before the savages were defeated. Ten years later, 
the Modocs fiercely but vainly resisted removal from Cali¬ 
fornia to a reservation in Oregon. 

The centennial year was darkened by war with the Sioux 
tribes of Dakota. Gold was discovered in the Black Hills, 
a part of their reservation, and white men pushed into the 
country and thrust aside the red men. The tribes rose 
under Chief Sitting Bull and defeated three bodies of 
troops sent against them. Brave General Custer and his 
troops were surrounded near Big Horn River in Montana 
and every one of the two hundred and fifty soldiers was 
killed [1876]. After months of fighting, the Indians were 
overcome. The settlement of the West went on unchecked. 

Tilden-Hayes contest. — While the Sioux War was going 
on, there was a presidential election. Other parties put 
forward candidates, but the real contest was between the 


348 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1876 

Republican candidate, Rutherford Birchard Hayes of Ohio, 
and the Democratic candidate, Samuel Jones Tilden of 
New York. Tilden received the votes of all the southern 
states, and of enough northern and western ones to give 
him one hundred and eighty-four electoral votes. Only 
one hundred and eighty-five were required for election. 
There were twenty votes in dispute, — one contested vote 
in Oregon and nineteen in Louisiana, Florida, and South 
Carolina, which were still under carpetbag rule. Only one 
of the twenty disputed votes was needed to elect Tilden; 
all of the twenty were needed to elect Hayes. 

How was the matter to be decided ? There was no hope 
that the Democratic House and the Republican Senate 
would agree. Finally Congress appointed an Electoral 
Commission to decide the matter. The commission con¬ 
sisted of five senators, five representatives, and five judges 
of the Supreme Court. Of these, seven were Democrats 
and seven Republicans ; it was expected that the fifteenth 
would be an independent, but instead a Republican was 
chosen. By a strictly party vote, — eight Republicans to 
seven Democrats, — every one of the twenty contested votes 
was given to Hayes, and he was declared elected. 

Summary [1869-1877].^-Ulysses Simpson Grant of Illinois, the 
eighteenth president, served two terms. While he was president, the 
Union Pacific Railroad was completed, a Centennial Exposition was 
held at Philadelphia, Colorado was admitted to the Union, and there 
were two Indian wars, — with the Modocs in California and with the 
Sioux tribes of Dakota. The Alabama claim was settled, the United 
States being awarded $15,500,000 damages. There was a business panic 
and several public scandals, — the Credit Mobilier, the Salary Grab, the 
Whisky Ring, and the Tweed Ring. Reconstruction rule continued, 
and the southern states suffered from the corrupt ‘carpetbag 1 govern¬ 
ments. By degrees, southern white men regained control of state affairs. 
Great excitement was caused by the disputed Tilden-Hayes election; 
it was finally decided by an Electoral Commission in favor of Hayes. 


1877] 


NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT 


349 


3. Hayes’s Term [1877-1881] 

it';" 

Republican 

End of reconstruction. — Mr. Hayes was an upright, 
public-spirited man. “The president . . .’* he said, “should 
strive to be always mindful of the fact that he serves his 
party best who serves his country best.” He squared his 
actions with his words. He made 
reforms in government and with¬ 
drew Federal troops from the South. 

The carpetbag governments of 
Louisiana, Florida, and South Caro¬ 
lina were put aside. Reconstruction 
was over. 

For twelve years, the seceded 
states had been ruled by the abso¬ 
lute authority of Congress. In the 
twenty years following the recon¬ 
struction period, the Supreme Court 
decided, in one case after another, 
that Congress had exceeded its powers under the Constitu¬ 
tion and had assumed powers belonging to the states ; one 
after another, the acts passed during that period were 
put aside, and the citizens and states of the South regained 
their rights. 

Strikes [1877].— During the first summer of Mr. 
Hayes’s term, there were serious labor troubles. On account 
of hard times, many employers lowered the wages of their 
workmen. Thousands of coal miners and railroad men 
struck, — that is, they refused to work for the wages 
offered. The mine owners and railway officials tried to 
hire other men, and the strikers endeavored by persuasion 
and by force to prevent these laborers from taking their 



Rutherford B. Hayes 




350 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1877 


places. There were riots in which many men were killed 
and wounded, and millions of dollars’ worth of property 
was destroyed. Troops were called out to restore order. 

Organization of capital and labor. — These strikes were 
the beginning of a great struggle between capital and labor, 
or employers and workmen. Business men were forming 
corporations and trusts, — that is, combinations to control 
certain products and industries. Their object was to make 
larger profits by reducing expenses in various ways and 
by getting better prices through control of markets. While 
Grant was president, the Standard Oil Company, under 
John D. Rockefeller, was organized [1872]. It became 
rich and powerful, gained control of the oil trade, and 
drove many of its rivals out of business. Similar trusts 
were formed to control sugar, tobacco, and other prod¬ 
ucts. 

Laboring men, on the other hand, united to advance 
their interests ; they formed trades unions and labor unions. 
Through these, they sought to make better terms with 
their employers, demanding higher wages and shorter 
hours for a day’s work. First men of the same occupa¬ 
tion drew together; then men of different occupations 
came into line; later a great Federation of Labor was 
formed. 

Financial affairs. — Many people thought that the coun¬ 
try would be more prosperous if changes were made in 
the currency system and more silver coins were issued. 
Accordingly, the Bland Silver Act was passed [1878], re¬ 
quiring the coinage each month of not less than two million 
and not more than four million dollars’ worth of silver. 

For seventeen years, the government had paid its debts 
with paper money. Specie payments had been stopped 
during the war, because the government did not have coin 
to redeem the notes that it issued. This caused the paper 


1879 ] 


NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT 


351 


money to fall in value. At last, the government was able 
to resume specie payments, — that is, it began to redeem 
its greenbacks in silver and gold [1879]. People could 
get coin for greenbacks whenever they wished, and they 
willingly took the convenient paper money at its face 
value. For the first time for seventeen years, a paper 
dollar was equal in value to a gold dollar. 

Growth of the country. — In spite of hard times, the 
country steadily advanced in population, in agriculture, in 
manufactures, in commerce. The tenth census [1880] 
showed that in ten years, population had increased thirty 
per cent and wealth had increased about forty-five per cent. 
The South had a wonderful share in this growth. Negroes 
and white people worked better in the ‘free’ South than 
under the system of slavery. Crops were improved by 
the use of better tools and wiser methods. Larger crops 
of cotton were raised than before the war, and other 
things were produced, — corn, hay, meat, vegetables for 
market. Other industries besides agriculture were built 
up ; lumber was shipped, mines were developed, factories 
were established. 

Eads’s jetties [1877]. — As merchant vessels increased 
in size, shoals and sandbars in the Mississippi and other 
rivers interfered more and more with navigation and com¬ 
merce. Large vessels were unable to go to New Orleans on 
account of the sandbars formed by the sediment dropped 
by the great, slow stream. 

Captain James Eads devised a way to remove these 
sandbars. He constructed jetties, or piers, which narrowed 
the river; thus the current was made swifter, and it carried 
the sediment to the sea and deepened the river channel. 
The jetties made the main channel of the Mississippi 
twenty feet deep and opened the harbor of New Orleans 
to large ocean steamers. 


352 


SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1881 


Summary [1877-1881]. — Rutherford B. Hayes of Ohio, the nine¬ 
teenth president, served one term. Reconstruction rule in the South 
came to an end, specie payments were resumed, and, in spite of hard 
times and strikes, the country advanced in wealth and prosperity. 

4. Garfield and Arthur’s Term [1881-1885] 


Republican 


Garfield assassinated [July 2, 1881]. — James Abram 
Garfield of Ohio succeeded Hayes as president. The 


incoming president was 
beset by greedy parti¬ 
sans, clamoring for office. 
Public offices had come 
to be regarded as party 
spoils. Even the floor 
scrubbers of public build¬ 
ings were changed with 
each election. Congress¬ 
men expected and even 
demanded that appoint¬ 
ments in their states 
should be made according 
to their wishes. Garfield 



James A. Garfield 


refused to submit to this dictation. The two senators from 
New York resigned because he would not make the 
appointments which they desired. 

The country watched with disgust the scramble for office, 
but in the summer disgust was changed to horror. The 
president was shot by Charles Jules Guiteau, a half-crazy 
office-seeker, who had failed to obtain the place he sought. 
After lingering for weeks between life and death, Garfield 
passed away. 

President Arthur. — Vice president Chester Alan Arthur 





NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT 


353 


1881] 

of New York became president and performed with dignity 
and ability the duties of the high office which had come 
to him in so tragic a way. 

Merit system. — The president’s assassination drew the 
attention of the country to the 
great and growing evils of the 
spoils system. While Garfield 
was on his deathbed, a National 
Civil Service Reform League 
was organized. Public opinion 
was so strong that it forced 
Congress to make reforms. 

Democrats and Republicans 
united in passing an act to re¬ 
form public service [1883]. 

This act required that persons 
should be chosen for clerkships 
and other small offices by means of competitive examina¬ 
tions, and it forbade the removal of these persons for po¬ 
litical reasons. The tendency of this ‘merit system’ is to 
make office-holders the faithful and capable servants of 
the government, instead of the pets of politicians. 

Panic of 1884. —Speculation, credit business, and reck¬ 
less railroad building again caused hard times. One of 
the New York firms which went down in ruin and disgrace 
was Grant and Ward, in which General Grant was a 
partner. In business as in politics, shrewd, dishonorable 
men had used him and had made his honest name cover 
dishonest dealings. The great soldier met reverses bravely; 
suffering from a painful and incurable disease, he wrote 
his Memoirs as a means of support for his family. 

Inventions. —This was a period of many inventions and 
improvements. The force of electricity was utilized in 
various ways. Electric railways took the place of street 



Chester A. Arthur 




354 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1883 


cars drawn by horses. The electric telephone which 
enabled persons far apart to carry on conversation came 
into use. 

Standard time [1883].—As people traveled more and 
as transit became more rapid, confusion was caused by 
running timepieces according to sun time. The watches 
of a hundred persons meeting in a railway station in a 
central city, such as St. Louis, might all be correct accord¬ 
ing to the owners’ home time, and yet no two would agree. 
They would vary by seconds, minutes, or even hours. To 
avoid confusion, the railways of the United States adopted 
a standard time by which their timepieces were set and 
their trains run. The United States was divided into four 
sections — Eastern, Central, Mountain, and Pacific, each 
including 15 0 of longitude, using the same time in all parts 
of it, and each section being an hour behind the section 
east of it. Standard time proved so convenient that soon 
it was generally adopted. 

Summary [1881-1885]. — James Abram Garfield of Ohio, the twen¬ 
tieth president, was assassinated four months after his inauguration by a 
disappointed office-seeker. Chester Alan Arthur of New York was the 
twenty-first president and the fourth vice president to hold that office. 
During his presidency, an act was passed to check the spoils system by 
making many civil service appointments according to the merit system. 
About this time, the telephone came into use and standard time was 
adopted. 


5. Cleveland’s First Term [1885-1889] 
Democratic 

President Cleveland.—Grover Cleveland of New York 
was the first Democratic president who had been elected 
for twenty-eight years. He was elected by the Democrats 
and independent voters nicknamed ‘ Mugwumps,’ from an 
Indian word meaning ‘ chief,’ which has a local meaning in 


NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT 


355 


1885] 

New England of ‘a person who has a high opinion of him¬ 
self.’ The Mugwumps supported Cleveland because, as 
mayor of Buffalo and governor of New York, he had 
worked for reform and 
had lived up to his ex¬ 
pressed opinion that 
public affairs “ should 
be conducted as far as 
possible upon the same 
principle as a good 
business man manages 
his private concerns.” 

Cleveland was a public- 
spirited man with a 
strong will and a high 
sense of duty and right. 

As president, he held 
fast his belief that “pub¬ 
lic office is public trust.” He was a great advocate of 
civil service reform, and used with moderation his power 
to confer office. Indeed, his moderation seemed too great 
to many of his party which, having been out of power so 
long, was “ very hungry and very thirsty.” 

Legislation. — The House was Democratic and the 
Senate was Republican; this made it impossible for any 
party measure to be carried. Several important non¬ 
partisan measures were passed. 

The Presidential Succession Act was passed in order to 
remove all danger of the government’s ever being left 
without a head. This act provided that in case of the 
death of the president and vice president, the office of 
chief executive should devolve on the cabinet members in 
the order that their offices were established. 

The Electoral Count Act was passed in order to prevent 



Grover Cleveland 


356 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1887 


a disputed presidential election, like the Tilden-Hayes one. 
This act said that each state should determine for itself by 
its own law any contest in it about a presidential elector. 

The Interstate Commerce Act was passed to regulate 
rates on railway lines extending through more than one 
state, so as to give equality of treatment to shippers and 
communities. This was the beginning of government reg¬ 
ulation of railways for which there was a growing popular 
demand. At first, railways had seemed only blessings, 
reducing the expense, toil, and danger of travel and opening 
new regions to market. But people found that they might 
cause hardships. Sometimes railroads disregarded the law 
that a common carrier must haul all men’s goods on the 
same terms ; they made special freight rates to big dealers, 
thus putting small shippers and manufacturers at a dis¬ 
advantage. By differences in freight rates, some sections 
and industries were built up at the expense of others. 
Sometimes rates were so high that they destroyed profits 
and shut certain crops and products from market. 

Immigration laws. — At the wish of the Pacific states, 
an act was passed to exclude Chinese laborers, who had 
come by hundreds of thousands to these states. They 
were thrifty men who could live on a scanty ration of 
rice and prosper on lower wages than white laborers could 
live on. 

The United States was taking a new attitude toward 
white immigrants, also. During the early years of the 
republic, its doors were wide open to the world. Then its 
immigrants were chiefly from the north of Europe,— 
thrifty, enterprising men of the same stock as the people 
who settled America. Later there began an immigration 
of people of a different stock, from Hungary, southern 
Italy, and Russia. Among these were lawless men who 
used bombs instead of ballots to secure measures they 


im] 


NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT 


357 


wished. It was felt necessary to protect the United States 
against such persons. A small tax was laid on each immi¬ 
grant entering, the country, and laws were passed to 
shut out convicts and idiots; later contract laborers were 
excluded; afterward laws were passed to exclude polyg¬ 
amists, diseased persons, paupers, and anarchists. Every 
year, thousands of persons are turned from our shores 
as ‘ undesirable citizens.’ 

Cleveland’s vetoes.—Cleveland had been nicknamed 
the ‘ veto mayor.’ He might well have been called the veto 
president, for he vetoed over three hundred bills — more 
than double the number that had been turned down by all 
the presidents before him. Many of these were pension 
bills. President Cleveland thought that only poor or 
disabled persons ought to receive pensions and that to 
give them merely for service in the Union army was a 
misuse of public money. 

Tariff.—After being for many years secondary to 
other matters, the tariff question was again coming to the 
front. From the formation of the government, there had 
been two opinions on this subject. The Federalists, the 
Whigs, and the Republicans in turn wished a high tariff 
to protect American manufactures. The Democratic- 
Republicans and the Democrats wished a low tariff ‘ for 
revenue only,’ claiming that a high tariff favored a few 
manufacturers at the expense of many consumers. Finally, 
a moderate tariff was agreed on, and this was not greatly 
changed until the War of Secession. Then, to raise 
needed funds, tariff rates were greatly increased. After 
the war, they were not lowered; duties were even raised 
on wool, steel, and some other things. 

President Cleveland thought that the high tariff was at 
the root of the trouble between capital and labor; any 
advantage to laborers from high wages, he said, was over* 


358 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [i 887 

balanced by the greater cost of living. In a message about 
the tariff, he used the famous words, “ It is a condition 
which confronts us, — not a theory,” — a condition, he said, 
in which the tariff was piling up a surplus in the treasury, 
while consumers were carrying a burden of taxes. 

Harrison elected president. — In the next election, the 
tariff was made the chief issue, — the Democrats favoring 
a lower tariff and the Republicans supporting the high 
protective tariff. Cleveland was a second time the Demo¬ 
cratic candidate. The Republican candidate, General 
Benjamin Harrison of Indiana, the grandson of President 
William Henry Harrison, was elected. 

Summary [1885-1889].—Grover Cleveland of New York was the 
twenty-second president. The chief events of his first term were the 
passing of the Presidential Succession, Electoral Count, and Interstate 
Commerce acts. The tariff question was again brought forward, the 
Democrats favoring and the Republicans opposing the reduction of tariff 
rates. 


6. Harrison’s Term [1889-1893] 

Republican 

Oklahoma opened [1889].—-By this time, settlements 
extended from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and there was 
little new land to be occupied. The government purchased 
from the Indians a part of Indian Territory, called Okla¬ 
homa, ‘ the beautiful land.’ This was opened to settlers. 
At noon one spring day, a bugle was sounded. Fifty 
thousand persons who had camped on the boundary lines 
rushed forward and settled the territory in a day. At 
noon, Guthrie was prairie land ; at night, it was a town 
with 10,000 inhabitants. How different this was from the 
slow, laborious growth which had marked the settlement 


i88 9 ] 


NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT 


359 


of Virginia or even of the early border states, such as 
Kentucky! 

New states. — The year that Oklahoma was opened 
[ 1889], four new states were ad¬ 
mitted, — North Dakota and 
South Dakota in the great 
wheat belt, Montana, a rich 
mining country, and Washing¬ 
ton on the Pacific coast. The 
next year [1890], two new 
states were admitted, — Idaho 
and Wyoming, rich grazing 
and mining regions which a 
generation before were mere 
wilderness. 

Wyoming was the first state 
in which women were allowed to vote and hold office on 
an equality with men. Later women were given the suf¬ 
frage in several other western and middle states; in many 



A View of Oklahoma City as it appeared April 22, 1889 


other states, they were given the right to vote about 
schools and some other matters. A steadily-growing party 
in all states demands for women equal voting rights with 
men, on the ground that they are citizens, taxed to sup¬ 
port the government, and subject to its laws. 



Benjamin Harrison 








360 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1890 


Legislation. — During Harrison’s term, the Sherman 
Anti-trust Act was passed to regulate manufacturing and 
trading companies that do an interstate business. The 
purpose of this act was to keep trusts from controlling 
markets and oppressing the people. 



A View of a Part of Oklahoma City to-day 


The Bland Silver Act was repealed and the Sherman 
Silver Act was passed, requiring the government to pur¬ 
chase 4,500,000 ounces of silver each month; for this, it 
issued treasury notes which were to be redeemed in either 
gold or silver. 

The McKinley Tariff Act was passed, increasing 
duties, especially on silk, woolen, and cotton goods, making 
the average rate of duty about fifty per cent. In this act, 
the principle of reciprocity was brought forward; lower 
rates of duty on certain articles were given to countries 
the tariff rates of which favored the United States. 

Australian ballot system.—There was a steady move¬ 
ment toward better government for cities and states. The 
Australian ballot system was adopted in one state after 
another; now some form of it is in use in almost every 
state. In this system of voting, the names of all candidates 
for each office are printed on a list. A copy of the list is 
given to each voter, and in a booth, alone, he marks the 






NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT 


36 ! 


1890] 

names of the candidates that he prefers; thus no one can 
know how he votes nor direct his voting. This method 
of private voting has done away with much bribery and 
unfairness at elections. 

Southern state constitutions. — Several of the southern 
states drew up new constitutions; under these, by tax 
and educational qualifications, ignorant voters were ex¬ 
cluded. Other sections saw the South put aside the evils 
of unlimited negro suffrage and did not try to interfere. 
A better understanding between sections was growing 
up. 

‘Billion Dollar Congress.’ — The Fifty-first Congress 
spent more money than had ever been spent by any 
Congress before; it was called ‘ the Billion Dollar 
Congress ’ because its appropriations amounted to that 
sum. 

Cleveland reelected president. — In the next election, 
the tariff was again the chief issue between Democrats 
and Republicans. The Republicans put forward Harrison 
for a second term and the Democrats nominated Cleve¬ 
land a third time. The decision of the former election 
was reversed. Harrison was defeated and Cleveland 
was elected. For the first time for thirty-two years, the 
Democrats controlled all three branches of the govern¬ 
ment. 

Summary [1889-1893]. — Benjamin Harrison of Indiana, the 
twenty-third president, served one term. While he was president, 
Oklahoma was opened for settlement and six new states were ad¬ 
mitted,— North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Washington, Idaho, 
and Wyoming. The Sherman Anti-trust Act, the Sherman Silver Act, 
and the McKinley Tariff Act were the chief legislative acts during 
Harrison’s term. 


362 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1893 

7. Cleveland’s Second Term [1893-1897] 
Democratic 

Currency question. — President Cleveland heartily fa¬ 
vored the low tariff desired by the Democratic party. But 
he disagreed with the majority of his party on the currency 
question ; it wished a double standard, using both gold and 
silver as the standard of our money system, whereas the 
president approved the single, or gold, standard. The 
Democrats elected him in spite of this difference of opinion, 
thinking that the first work of the party was to reform the 
tariff. But the currency question forced itself to the front. 

By the Sherman Silver Act, the government had agreed 
to buy a certain amount of silver every month. It issued 
notes for this, and when the notes were presented, it had to 
redeem them in either gold or silver. As the silver dollar 
was worth only about fifty cents in gold, gold was usually 
demanded. The government supply of the yellow metal was 
being exhausted, and it was piling up larger and larger un¬ 
used heaps of the white one. Unless something was done 
to relieve the situation, the government would soon be un¬ 
able to pay its notes in gold. 

The president thought that it ought to stop buying silver 
and issuing new notes. He called an extra session of 
Congress, and asked the repeal of the Sherman Act requir¬ 
ing the purchase of silver. After weeks and months of 
delay, this act was repealed. Meanwhile men were not 
sure of the value of the paper money that they handled, 
not knowing whether it would be redeemed in ‘ cheap ’ 
silver or ‘ dear ’ gold. They did as little business as pos¬ 
sible. Trade and manufactures were at a standstill. 
Failure followed failure. 

Wilson Tariff Act.—This was a bad time in which to 


1894] 


NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT 


3 6 3 


make tariff changes, but the Democrats felt bound to 
make good their promises of reform. Congress passed the 
Wilson Act, extending the free list and lowering rates of 
duty. The Senate put in so many protective duties that 
Cleveland would not sign the bill and allowed it to become 
a law without his signature. 

Income tax. — As the government income was lessened 
by lowering the tariff, it was necessary to raise money by 
other means. An income tax was passed. This laid a tax 
of two per cent on incomes of over $4000. Income taxes 
had been laid before, and the Supreme Court had said that 
they were lawful, but now it declared that they were con¬ 
trary to the Constitution. The setting aside of the income 
tax left the government without sufficient money for its 
expenses. 

Financial distress.—The business depression grew 
deeper. The South suffered from the low price of cotton. 
The West suffered from the decline in value of its wheat 
and its silver. Droughts and crop failures deepened the 
distress. Even a year which brought a bountiful supply 
of wheat did not relieve the situation in the West. The 
world’s wheat crop was huge, and the price fell in the 
United States to forty-nine cents a bushel. Times grew 
harder and harder. Cities were crowded with people out of 
work, face to face with starvation. People in fertile farming 
regions did not have money to buy clothes; they wore 
garments made of grain bags and wrapped rags around 
their shoeless feet. ‘Armies of the unemployed’ came to 
Washington City from the western plains and even from 
the Pacific coast, to beg relief. 

In these hard times, the wages of workmen were low¬ 
ered, and there were strikes in many places, — at the 
Homestead Iron Works near Pittsburg, in Pennsylvanian 
coal mines, and at the shops of the Pullman Car Com- 


364 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1894 


pany near Chicago. The strikers tried to keep other men 
from working in their places, and there were riots in which 
many persons were killed. The mine strikes caused a short- 



Ruins after the Pittsburg Riot 


age of fuel. This stopped many factories, and hundreds 
and thousands of people were thrown out of work. 

People’s Party. — It seemed to many people that the 
farming, mining, and cattle-raising states of the South and 
West were at a disadvantage with the Northeast, the money 
center of the country. Its capital, its banks, its railroads, 
controlled markets and prices. The People’s Party, called 
by the newspapers the Populists, urged that the govern- 








NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT 


1893] 


365 


ment ought to pass an income tax, control railroads, and 
restore the coinage of silver. 

Expositions. — Even in this time of depression, great ex¬ 
positions were held in different parts of the country. There 
was a World’s Fair in Chicago [1893] to celebrate the four 
hundredth anniversary of the discovery of America. It 
was remarkable for the excellence and variety of its exhib¬ 
its and the beauty of its buildings. Two years after the 
Chicago fair, there was a great exposition at Atlanta. It 
showed that the South had made a wonderful advance 
since the war. Buildings designed, built, and furnished by 
negroes bore witness to the industrial progress of their 
race. 

Utah admitted to Union [1896]— During Cleveland’s 
second term, Utah was admitted to statehood. Its admis¬ 
sion had been delayed because polygamy was practiced 
there by the Mormons. The government thought that 
this was contrary to the good morals and welfare of a 
state ; Utah was admitted with a pledge in its constitution 
that it would henceforth not allow polygamy. 

Foreign affairs. — Several important foreign matters 
came up during Cleveland’s second term. 

The queen of the Hawaiian Islands had been deposed 
and a republic formed which asked to be annexed to the 
United States. American citizens had taken such a promi¬ 
nent part in the insurrection that Cleveland thought it 
was unfair to the native government to uphold the revo¬ 
lutionists. Therefore, he opposed annexation. 

For years, Great Britain had been engaged in a dispute 
with Venezuela about the boundary between Venezuela 
and British Guiana. It seemed impossible for them to 
come to terms, and Great Britain refused to arbitrate the 
matter. Finally President Cleveland said that if Great 
Britain refused to submit the matter to arbitration, it would 


366 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1895 


be necessary for the United States to inquire into the 
merits of the case and to insist upon the acceptance of just 
terms. This was a new and vigorous assertion of the 
Monroe Doctrine. Great Britain yielded, and the dispute 
was submitted to arbitration. 

The year that Cleveland took this stand about the Vene¬ 
zuelan matter, the Cubans began a rebellion against Spanish 
misrule. From its settlement by Spaniards early in the 
sixteenth century, the island had been regarded merely as 
a source of revenue to Spain, not as a part of the nation. 
It was burdened with heavy taxes and unfair trade laws. 
Soon after the War of Secession, the Cubans raised a 
revolt that lasted ten years; Spain promised to make 
reforms, but did not keep the promise. 

The Cubans revolted again and demanded “ independ¬ 
ence or death.” The war was conducted on both sides 
in savage fashion. Sugar plantations were destroyed, 
houses and villages were burned, prisoners and wounded 
men were shot. General Weyler, the Spanish military 
governor, formed ‘camps of concentration’; these were 
fields surrounded by ditches and barbed wire fences, with 
guardhouses at intervals. In these camps, men, women, 
and children were herded together like cattle, and died by 
thousands of disease and starvation. 

Americans watched with growing impatience the misery 
at their doors, thinking that it was ‘not war but barbarism.’ 
President Cleveland expressed the feelings of the people 
when he said that there would be “a limit to our patient 
waiting for Spain to end the contest.” 

Spain heeded this warning and recalled General Weyler. 
Still the struggle continued, and America took no part. 
But its protest had been made to the world. Sooner or 
later, if Spain did not come to terms with Cuba, the United 
States would intervene. 


1896] 


NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT 


367 


Discovery of gold in Alaska [1896]. — For many years, 
Alaska was regarded by most people in the United States 
as “ nothing but an iceberg with a few seals roosting on 
it.” This opinion was changed by the discovery of gold 
in the Klondike, on the border between British and Ameri¬ 
can territory. The deposits were of wonderful richness. 



Preparing to climb ‘ the Golden Stair ’ and Peterson’s Trail, 
Chilkoot Pass, Alaska , 


Nuggets were found weighing many ounces; some weighed 
several pounds. 

As soon as the news reached the states, there was a 
rush to Alaska like that to California a half century before. 
Many persons were discouraged by the dangers and diffi- 





368 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1896 



culties of the way and turned back; many were lost in 
the wilderness and fell victims to the bitter cold of the 
climate which often registers thirty degrees below zero. 
The most direct route to the Klondike was by Chilkoot 

Pass, up a moun¬ 
tain so steep that 
it had to be climbed 
on foot by steps 
cut in the hardened 
snow. Up this 
‘golden stair,’ 
there pressed for 
months a line of 
weary, toiling, 
hopeful men. They 
carried their sup¬ 
plies on their 
backs, and no one 
was allowed to 
descend the nar¬ 
row, crowded stair. 
If a man’s strength 
and courage gave 
out, he used his 
pack as a sled and 
tobogganed down 
the mountain. 
Thousands of 
hardy adventurers made their way to the Klondike by one 
route or another, and millions of dollars’ worth of gold 
dust and nuggets were obtained. 

Boundary dispute. — After the discovery of gold in the 
Klondike, there arose a dispute between the United States 
and Great Britain as to the exact boundary of Alaska. 


William McKinley 







1897] 


NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT 


369 


The United States claimed that the boundary followed 
the mountain range at a certain distance from the bays 
and harbors; Great Britain claimed that it cut across the 
bays and followed the headlands. Finally the matter was 
submitted to arbitration, and the greater part of the terri¬ 
tory in question was awarded to the United States. 

McKinley elected president. — The next election turned 
from the tariff to the currency issue. The Republicans 
declared against free coinage of silver, except by agree¬ 
ment with the leading commercial nations of the world. 
They said that the world is one commercial community and 
that the United States must fall into line with the great 
European nations and adopt a gold standard. 

The Democrats thought that the United States ought to 
have its own standards of value. They declared in favor 
of “ the free and unlimited coinage of both gold and silver 
at the present legal ratio of sixteen to one, without waiting 
for the aid or consent of any other nation.” The Demo¬ 
crats nominated for the presidency William Jennings 
Bryan of Nebraska. The Republicans nominated and 
elected William McKinley of Ohio, and secured control of 
both the Senate and the House. 

Forest reserves. — One of Cleveland’s last public acts 
was to withdraw forest lands from settlement and to form 
reservations in several western states. This was the begin¬ 
ning of the policy of conserving national resources. 

Summary [1893-1897]. — Grover Cleveland of New York, the 
twenty-fourth president, was reelected and served a second term. 
While he was president, Utah was admitted to the Union, Congress 
passed the Wilson Tariff Act and laid an income tax which was set 
aside by the Supreme Court. There was a financial panic which was 
followed by long-continued business depression; hard times were in¬ 
creased by crop failures. A revolution took place in Hawaii and a 
republic was formed, which asked to be annexed to the United States. 
Through the influence of Cleveland, a boundary dispute between Vene¬ 
zuela and Great Britain was submitted to arbitration. 


370 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1897 


8. McKinley’s First Term : The War with Spain 
[1897-1901] 

Republican 

Dingley Tariff Act [1897].-—The Republicans, having 
again control of the government, proceeded to carry out 
their tariff and currency plans. They passed the Dingley 
Act, raising tariff rates. Later an act was passed making 
gold the single standard [1900]. 

Steel Trust [1897]. —The month that McKinley was in¬ 
augurated, a great steel trust was formed with a capital of 
over a billion dollars. It united under one management 
mines to supply iron, plants to produce steel, railroads and 
steamship lines to carry its products to the markets of the 
United States and of the world. It was claimed that the 
object of the trust was to reduce expenses, — by production 
on a large scale, by cutting out unnecessary expenses, by 
using by-products, by checking ‘cut-throat’ competition. 
Its wealth and organization gave it power to control the 
markets and prices of the product which was becoming 
the chief building material of the world. 

War declared against Spain [April 25, 1898]. — At last, 
the day came of which Cleveland had warned Spain, 
— the day when the United States lost patience with the 
course of affairs in Cuba. This was hastened by a tragic 
incident. A United States battleship, the Maine , had been 
sent to Cuba to protect American citizens there. The 
Marne was blown up in Havana Harbor [February 14,1898], 
and nearly three hundred lives were lost. Examinations of 
the wreck have convinced most experts that an outside ex¬ 
plosion caused the Maine's magazine to explode. There 
was no evidence that Spanish officials were responsible for 
the disaster — but within two months Spain and the United 
States were at war. The Maine incident was like a spark 
to powder, firing popular desire for war. 


1898] 


NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT 


371 


The president sent a message, asking Congress to inter¬ 
vene in Cuba. “ In the name of humanity, in the name of 
civilization, in behalf of endangered American interests, 
which give us the right and the duty to speak and act, the 
war in Cuba must stop,” he said. 

Two weeks later, war was formally declared against 
Spain, and a fleet was sent to blockade the Cuban ports. 
The American navy was small, but it had first-class vessels 
and well-trained crews. There were only 28,000 men in 
the regular army, but the ranks were soon filled with vol¬ 
unteers. In a few weeks, over 
200,000 men were enrolled. 

Southerners came forward 
eagerly. Old Confederate offi¬ 
cers volunteered and were given 
charge of troops. There was 
a new sense of union as north¬ 
ern and southern men marched 
side by side under the old flag. 

Battle of Manila [May 1]. — 

The first blow was struck. by 
the navy far out in the Pacific. 

The Pacific squadron, consist¬ 
ing of six battleships under Commodore Dewey, was in 
Chinese waters. As soon as war was declared, Dewey 
was ordered to go to the Philippines, Spanish islands near 
the Asian coast, and “ capture or destroy ” the fleet under 
Admiral Montojo. This fleet was in Manila Harbor. 
Dewey entered the Bay of Manila by night, crossing the 
mines in its channel as in boyhood he had sailed with Far- 
ragut over the mines in Mobile Harbor. 

Early the next morning, he attacked the Spanish fleet, 
which was superior to the American in number of vessels 
but inferior in quality. Dewey ordered his ships to move 



Admiral Dewey 


372 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1898 


slowly up and down the line of Spanish vessels, raking 
them with a deadly fire. By noon, the work was finished. 

The Spanish 
ships were all 
sunk, burned, 
or abandoned; 
the Americans 
had not lost a 
man nor a boat. 

Cervera’s fleet. 
— The battle in 
Pacific waters 
was soon fol¬ 
lowed by fight¬ 
ing on the At¬ 
lantic side. The 
Spanish squadron under Admiral 
Pascual Cervera entered the har¬ 
bor of Santiago de Cuba. There 

Philippine Islands k shut in b Y hills > nearly tw ° 

weeks before the Americans dis¬ 
covered its whereabouts. Then a squadron under Com¬ 
modore Schley blockaded 
the port; three days later, 

Rear Admiral Sampson, the 
commander in chief, brought 
up his vessels. To enter 
the long, narrow channel, 
protected with mines, com¬ 
manded by forts and bat¬ 
teries on the surrounding 
heights, would have been a 
useless waste of life. The 




Operations around Santiago de Cuba 


Americans waited for an army to land on the island and 
aid them by taking Santiago and the batteries around it. 




















1898] 


NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT 


373 



In order to prevent the 
escape of the Spanish 
fleet, a young naval offi¬ 
cer, Lieutenant Rich¬ 
mond Pearson Hobson of 
Alabama, made a daring 
attempt to block the har¬ 
bor by sinking a coal ship 
in the channel [June 3]. 
He and the seven men 
with him were taken pris¬ 
oners by the Spaniards, 
but were afterward ex¬ 
changed. 

Battles of El Caney and 
San Juan Hill [July 1]. 

— A few weeks later, an 
American army was 
landed near Santiago to 
help take the town and 
the Spanish fleet. Be¬ 
tween the landing-place 
and the city lay several 
miles of rough country, 
broken by steep hills, 
with narrow, miry roads 
winding through dense, 
tropical forests. 

Spanish troops occu¬ 
pied El Caney, about 
seven miles east of Santi¬ 
ago. This strong natural 
position was protected by 
a stone fort. South of 


Santiago Harbor and City 





374 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1898 


El Caney was San Juan Hill, a height surmounted by a 
fort and protected by tangles of barbed wire. To attack 
El Caney and San Juan Hill, the Americans had to march 
in the open, exposed to the fire of protected foes. They 
advanced gallantly and took the fort and th’e hill after 
several hours of severe fighting. The next day, the Span¬ 
iards made a b^ave but unsuccessful attempt to retake 
these places; the Americans held their own and advanced 
their lines. 

Cervera’s fleet destroyed [July 3].—Admiral Cervera 
now feared that he would be caught between the American 
fleet and army. He put to sea, not to fight but to escape, 
hoping to slip out of the harbor unseen or to break 
through the blockading fleet. But the Americans attacked 
promptly, each captain aiming at the vessel nearest him. 
Within four hours, every one of the Spanish ships was 
taken or destroyed. Several were set on fire, and at the 
risk of their lives the victors saved the crews of the 
burning ships. 

“ Don’t cheer, boys; the poor fellows are dying,” said 
one gallant American captain to his men. 

The Spaniards lost their entire fleet; several hundred 
men were killed in the fight or drowned and the survivors 
were taken prisoners. Not one American ship was injured. 

Cuba and Porto Rico taken. — After a brief siege by the 
fleet and the army, Santiago was surrendered. Then 
Major General Miles went with a small force to Porto Rico 
and took possession of the southern and western portions 
of the island. Soon after this, terms of peace were agreed 
on [August 12]. 

Capture of Manila [August 13]. — The war ended 
where it had begun. The city of Manila was taken the 
day after peace was agreed on, before news of it reached 
the city. 


1898] 


NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT 


375 


Results of war.—The War with Spain lasted only 
four months. It cost the United States about $300,000,000 
in debt and taxes. By the treaty of peace, Spain gave up 
its island possessions in the New World, which it had held 
since the days of Columbus. Control of Cuba was to be 
granted to the Cubans. The Americans were to retain 
Porto Rico and Guam, and also the Philippines for which 
they were to pay Spain $20,000,000. 

The American republic acquired colonial possessions by 
annexation, also. Soon after the war began, the Hawaiian 
Islands were annexed [July, 1898], and two years later 



Philippine Natives and Cattle 


they were organized into a territory. The Hawaiian and 
the Philippine Islands are fertile tropical countries, and 
they are convenient trading stations on the way to Asia. 

The War with Spain marked a new period in the history 
of the United States. Before this time, several great addi¬ 
tions to territory had been made. But they were all on 
the American continent, and all, with the possible excep¬ 
tion of Alaska, were expected to become organic parts of 
the Union, occupied as well as controlled by people of our 
nation. There was much discussion about how the Philip- 










376 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1900 


pines should be governed, and finally a new kind of govern¬ 
ment was established. This was by means of a commission 
appointed by the president. Judge William Howard Taft 
of Ohio was put at the head of the first commission [1900]. 

Aguinaldo. —While Dewey was waiting in the Philippines 
for an American army to come to the aid of his fleet, he made 
use of native allies. The leader of these was Emilio Agui¬ 
naldo, only twenty-nine years old, yet already a man of 
note as leader of a rebellion against Spanish misrule. The 
Filipinos expected that at the end of the war they would 
be given control of the Philippines as the Cubans were of 
Cuba. Soon after peace was declared, they formed an in¬ 
dependent government with Aguinaldo as president. Con¬ 
gress, however, voted to make the islands a colony of the 
United States. This seemed to the Filipinos merely an ex¬ 
change of masters, Spanish for American. For three years, 
they kept up the struggle for independence. At last, they 
were defeated, and their leader Aguinaldo was captured. 

Affairs in China. — Soon after the War with Spain, the 
attention of the world was turned to China. A party called 
Boxers, which was opposed to the presence and influence 
of foreigners, raised a revolt, took the city of Peking, killed 
many foreigners, and threatened to massacre them all. 
The United States and European nations protested against 
these outrages and sent troops to protect their citizens. 

The Hague Conference. — About this time, there began a 
great world-movement in favor of peace. Delegates from 
twenty-seven countries, including the United States, met at 
The Hague and agreed to settle disputes by arbitration 
instead of by war, whenever it was possible. 

McKinley reelected president. — In the next presidential 
election, eleven parties put forward candidates. William 
Jennings Bryan was again the Democratic candidate; 
William McKinley, the Republican candidate, was reelected. 


1800-1900] 


NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT 


377 


Summary [1897-1901]. — William McKinley of Ohio was the 
twenty-fifth president. The year after he became president, war was 
declared against Spain. This war, which lasted four months, was 
marked by two brilliant naval victories, — one by Dewey over Montojo 
at Manila, and the other by Schley and Sampson over Cervera at 
Santiago. An American army landed in Cuba, won victories at El 
Caney and San Juan Hill, and took the city of Santiago. The city of 
Manila was taken by an American army and fleet. The treaty of peace 
granted Cuba to the Cubans, and gave to the United States Porto Rico 
and Guam and the Philippines for $20,000,000. The Filipinos, led by 
Aguinaldo, declared their independence, but were subdued by the 
Americans. The chief domestic events during McKinley’s term were 
the passage of the Dingley Tariff Act, and the adoption of a gold 
coinage standard for the United States. 


9. The Nation at the End of the Nineteenth 
Century 

American nation. — Daring the nineteenth century, the 
American nation made enormous advances. Starting as a 
struggling young republic, it became one of the great 
nations of the world. Its territory was increased in several 
ways. By purchase, it acquired the great Louisiana 
Territory from France, Florida from Spain, the Gadsden 
Purchase from Mexico, and Alaska from Russia; by 
occupation and by treaty with Great Britain, it obtained the 
Oregon Country; by annexation, it gained Texas and the 
Hawaiian Islands; and by war, it won vast territory from 
Mexico and the Philippines and other islands from Spain. 

America’s increase in population was even more rapid 
than its increase in territory. During the nineteenth cen¬ 
tury, there were few great wars, and people learned 
much about preventing and controlling diseases; therefore, 
the world’s population increased more rapidly than in 
any previous century. Our country shared this general 
advance; moreover, it gained largely from other nations. 


378 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1800-1900 


During the century, there came to the United States over 
20,000,000 immigrants. One-fourth of the whole Scandi¬ 
navian race sought homes in America, and people of this 
stock — Germans, Swedes, and Norwegians — settled great 
regions of the Northwest. As steamships took the place 
of sailing vessels and ocean travel became cheaper and 
speedier, hosts of immigrants came from Russia and the 
countries of southern Europe. When the twelfth census 
was taken [1900], the United States had 76,000,000 peo¬ 
ple, — twenty persons for every one at the time of the first 
census. 

When the first census was taken, only three per cent of 
the people of the United States lived in cities. At the 



Chicago in 1832 


end of the nineteenth century, one-third of the Ameri¬ 
can people lived in cities, one-sixth was in villages and 
small towns, and only about one-half of the population was 
in the country. New York City contained almost as many 
people as were in the United States when the first census 
was taken. 
































































































































































. . 1 . . 




























fetih y t lloiostonp 


Wsputcrf' h 

ijloxJcd ami i 


2'Grccawich liiT 


IlS-Laat iron. 1 ; 


SCALE OF MILES 


MlNDOR 


negr< 


PALAWAN/, 


TJATW 


■'BORN I. 
(British 


.ATTU I. 


SCALE OF MILES 


™ ISLANDS 


Greenwich 


(The different Scales used should 











































































be noted with particular care.) 
























































































































. 


































































1800-1903] 


NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT 


379 


Cities did not always improve in government as they 
increased in size. They had to wrestle with problems 
about lighting, drainage, schools, water systems, sewerage, 
and of transit by means of surface, elevated, and subway 
railroads. City after city suffered from ‘boss ’ rule ; public 
funds were misused and public interests neglected by 
officials who regarded government as “ a cow to be milked.” 
One abuse after another was corrected. 

Industries.—The country which only three hundred 
years before was a wilderness, inhabited by half-naked 
savages, had become a great, wealthy nation. Its rich re¬ 
sources were being developed. It produced all the raw 
materials needed by a great nation, — wheat, corn, cotton, 
lumber, coal, oil, iron, gold, silver, and other things. Many 
of these products were manufactured so as to increase 
their value. The raw and manufactured products were 
used at home and shipped to all parts of the world. A 
clever Frenchman said truly: “The United States is not 
only the richest country in the world in coal, in iron, in 
copper, but also in human energy.” 

America made wonderful advances in agriculture, which 
is the basis of the prosperity of a great industrial nation, 
since without it no other business can exist. The govern¬ 
ment took a hand in agricultural education. It established 
in every state colleges to train farmers in better methods. 
A Department of Agriculture was organized, and its secre¬ 
tary became the eighth member of the president’s cabinet. 

Farmers learned to make their brains help their hands; 
they increased crops and reduced expenses by the use of 
fertilizers, improved machinery, and good farming methods. 
Former waste products were utilized. Cotton seed, for¬ 
merly thrown away, was made into feeds, bread stuffs, 
fertilizers, and oil, and brought farmers more money than 
the whole cotton crop was worth fifty years before. In- 




380 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [180^1900 

stead of raising only one crop, such as cotton or tobacco, 
farmers raised, in addition to their market crop, grain, 


A Hatvester 

hay, and meat for home use. Truck farming was found 
profitable along the Atlantic, Pacific, and Gulf coasts; 
cabbage and lettuce for northern markets brought more 


Steam Plow 

money to South Carolina every year than it received for 
rice when that was the staple crop. 

Most of the old southern plantations were divided into 








1800-1900] 


NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT 


381 


small farms, worked by their owners. The great farms of 
the country were chiefly in the thinly-settled regions of the 
West; some Dakota wheat farms and Texas ranches had 
miles of land inclosed in one field. On the grassy plains 
from Texas to Montana were great herds of cattle and 
sheep. These were sent by rail to Chicago and other cities 
to be slaughtered and shipped to all parts of the world. 
The fertile Northwest became the great wheat farm of the 
country. A small force of laborers, using gang plows and 
reaping machines, was able to raise and save its huge crops. 

Improvements and inventions. — Improved tools and 
machinery, which relieved farm life of much of its drudgery, 
raised its standards. It requires more intelligence to use 
and care for machinery than to work with a hand hoe and 
a plow. Country life was made pleasanter, too, by tele¬ 
phones, better roads, free delivery of mails, and many home 
comforts. 

In all pursuits and trades, improved tools 
and labor-saving machines were more and 
more used. The powers of steam and elec¬ 
tricity were utilized in many ways. 

Wonderful advances were made in methods 
of heating and lighting houses 
and of traveling and of carrying 
news. Instead of wood fires, candle 
people used coal stoves, hot-air 
furnaces, hot-water pipes, electric radiators. 
Tallow candles and whale-oil lamps gave 
place to kerosene lamps, gas, and electric 
lights. In place of goose-quill pens and hand 
presses, there were typewriters and cylinder 
Lamp printing presses. Instead of traveling in sail 
or row boats and on horseback or in coaches, 
people went about in boats and cars propelled by steam or 






382 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1800-1900 


electricity. By means of railroads and steamships, the 
products of distant sections and countries were exchanged. 

Refrigerator cars cooled with manu¬ 
factured ice delivered fresh fruits 
and vegetables in perfect condition 
thousands of miles from the fields 

Gas Bracket . ,, r- i r 

where they grew. Speedy, safe 
mail systems, the telegraph, and the telephone took the 
place of old, slow methods of communication. Early in the 
twentieth century, cables were laid 
across the Pacific and telegraph 
communication was established 
around the world. A message 
made the circuit of the globe in 
twelve minutes; a century before, it 
would have taken many months. 

War was made more prompt and deadly by the invention 
of steel battleships, high explo¬ 
sives such as dynamite and Max¬ 
imite, and improved firearms. 
One of the modern guns which 
fires several hundred shots a min¬ 
ute is equal to a little army in the 
days of the Revolution. 

Education. — Great improve¬ 
ments were made in education. 
The public-school system was 
extended all. over the country and 
equipped with better methods and 
better-trained teachers. In the 
schools of the United States, 
there were gathered at the end of the nineteenth century 
over 17,000,000 children with nearly 500,000 teachers. 
More and more attention was being paid to industrial edu- 



Linotype Machine 






i 8 oo-iqoo] 


NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT 


383 


cation and to fitting young people for the duties of life. 
The average American now spends over a thousand days 
in school, whereas his grandparents spent fewer than a 



The Flatiron Building, a Steel Frame Building in New York City 


hundred. Moreover, periodicals, books, libraries, and 
museums put knowledge within reach of all people. Great 
colleges and universities in all parts of the country offered 
men and women advantages for higher education. In these 
institutions, people read less Latin and Greek and learned 
more science than did their college-bred forefathers. 



384 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1800-1900 

Science. — In many branches of science, Americans did 
botanist Asa Gray, the ornithologist 
John James Audubon, the zoologist 
Louis Agassiz, the geographer Mat¬ 
thew Fontaine Maury, and other 
American scientists made valuable 
contributions to the world’s fund of 
knowledge. The most widely-known 
American inventor at the end of 
the nineteenth century was Thomas 
Edison; like Franklin, he investi¬ 
gated the force of electricity and 
invented methods of making it useful. 
He improved electric lights, invented 
a phonograph, a moving-picture machine, and many other 
things which add to the comfort and pleasure of millions 
of people. 

Medicine. — During the latter part of the nineteenth 
century, there was greater advance in the science of 
medicine than during all former centuries. American 
physicians took rank among the best in the world, doing 
a noble work to reduce pain and disease. Two great steps 
in medical advance were the discovery of what is called 
the germ theory of disease and of the agency of insects in 
carrying diseases; flies spread the ‘ filth disease,’ typhoid 
fever, and mosquitoes convey malaria and yellow fever. 
Louis Pasteur, a French chemist, discovered the germ 
theory of disease, and Robert Koch, a German physician, 
carried on Pasteur’s work and discovered the germ of 
cholera and the bacillus of tuberculosis. The germs that 
convey many other diseases have been discovered and 
physicians are learning to prevent, control, and cure many 
maladies once regarded as incurable. “ It is in the power 
of man,” said Pasteur, “ to cause all infectious diseases to 


notable work. The 



Thomas A. Edison 




1800-1900] 


NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT 


3 «s 


disappear from the world.” Hydrophobia is curable when 
taken in time, and antitoxin relieves most cases of diph¬ 
theria, formerly one of the most fatal diseases of children. 

Tuberculosis, ‘the great white plague,’ which claims as 
its victims in the United States 160,000 persons every 
year, has been proved to be a preventive and transmissible 
disease. It is curable in the earlier stages by fresh air, 
good food, and rest. All civilized people are joining in the 
war against this scourge, and its ravages are being greatly 
lessened. 

For over a century, yellow fever was one of the most 
dreaded of diseases. Time after time, it laid waste cities 
and communities, especially in the South. A Cuban phy¬ 
sician who studied the disease advanced the theory that 
yellow fever is transmitted by mosquitoes. Some brave 
Americans set to work, at the risk of their lives, to test the 
truth of this theory. One of these men, Dr. Jesse Lazear, 
was bitten by an infected mosquito, developed yellow fever, 
and died a martyr to science and humanity. By means of 
many experiments, it was proved that yellow fever is trans¬ 
mitted from one person to another only by the bite of a 
certain species of mosquito. By destroying the breeding 
places of these mosquitoes and by keeping fever patients 
screened against insects, the pestilence has been practically 
stamped out. 

Literature. — In the first third of the nineteenth century, 
Irving, Bryant, and Cooper were the chief American authors. 

The second third of the century is often called ‘the 
golden age ’ of literature in America on account of its host 
of brilliant writers — poets, novelists, essayists, and his¬ 
torians— Longfellow, Whittier, Poe, Lanier, Lowell, Haw¬ 
thorne, Holmes, Emerson, Bancroft, Motley, Prescott, 
Parkman, and others. 

As these passed away, younger authors came forward. It 


386 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1800-1900 



Samuel Clemens 
(Mark Twain) 


is possible to name here only a few of the authors notable 
during the last third of the nineteenth century, most 
of whom are still at work. John Fiske and Woodrow 
Wilson relate the history of America with charm of 
style and scholarly ability. Samuel 
Clemens, better known as ‘Mark 
Twain,’ wrote with vigor and shrewd 
humor on many subjects; Huckle¬ 
berry Finn and other stories picture 
vividly life in the Middle West. Bret 
Harte wrote vivid tales of the ‘ Forty- 
Niners’ in California, Winston 
Churchill is the author of The Cross¬ 
ing and other popular historical 
novels, George W. Cable describes 
the Creoles of Louisiana, Margaret Deland, in Old Chester 
Tales and other stories, tells about village life in Pennsyl¬ 
vania, W. D. Howells and Mary Wilkins Freeman depict 
New England scenes and character. Joel Chandler Harris 
won world-wide fame by his Uncle 
Remus tales and other stories about 
Georgia negroes, and Thomas Nel¬ 
son Page describes, with rare fidelity 
and power, life in Virginia before 
and during the War of Secession and 
in reconstruction days. 

Progress in arts. — In useful in¬ 
ventions, America led the world, but 
it was behind older nations in the 
fine arts, — music, painting, and 
sculpture. In those, however, it was 
making notable progress. Good work was done by Amer¬ 
ican painters and sculptors, — Edwin A. Abbey, John S. 
Sargent, J. McNeill Whistler, Elihu Vedder, William M. 



Thomas Nelson Page 





i 8 oo-igoo] 


NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT 


3^7 



Chase, and John La Farge, and by Frederick Macmonies, 
Augustus St. Gaudens, and Daniel French. After pho¬ 
tography was invented, other branches of art became more 
popular than portrait-painting. Landscape painting was 
developed, and scenes from history and mythology were 
favorite subjects for 
the pictures for 
which there was 
growing demand as 
noble public build¬ 
ings and handsome 
residences were 
erected. 

Many of these 
buildings were de¬ 
signed by Ameri¬ 
cans. Two noted 
American architects 
were Henry Richard¬ 
son and Charles 
Me Kim. They 
created no new 
styles, but used 

European ones and Copyright by Underwood & Underwood, N.Y. 

. . . Toel Chandler Harris (Uncle Remus) 

adapted them to 

American conditions. Home makers throughout the 
country tried to unite beauty and comfort in their buildings. 

They learned to give houses the setting of attractive 
grounds, beautified by the skillful use of natural features 
and native plants. Much of this improvement was due to 
two landscape gardeners, A. J. Downing and Frederick 
Law Olmstead, who laid out beautiful public and private 
grounds. 

Conservatories of music were established, and music 




388 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [iSoc^igoo 

lovers took pride in the work of John K. Paine, the composer, 
and of Theodore Thomas, the conductor, whose orchestral 
concerts made thousands of people familiar with good music. 

Race problems.—As the country advanced, it faced at 
each step new problems. Some arose from the presence of 
other people besides the ruling white race. Of the copper- 
colored people called Indians, whom Europeans found in 
possession of the American continent, there were at the 
end of the nineteenth century about 250,000 in the United 
States, not including Alaska. Most of these were on res¬ 
ervations set aside for them by the general government. 
Some of the tribes were civilized and had schools and 
churches ; others were wandering bands of savages. All 
were ‘ government wards,’ ruled like children and not recog¬ 
nized as citizens unless they left their tribes. 

At.the end of the nineteenth century, there were about 
eight million negroes in the United States. After the War 
of Secession, the freedmen were given the suffrage for 
which they were unfit. By degrees, suffrage in the South 
was limited, by tax and educational requirements; these 
excluded most negroes. Slowly the evils of slavery and 
reconstruction were put aside, and the negro race began 
to advance in the only possible way, — through its own 
efforts,, by means of industry and morality. In the indus¬ 
trial training of his race, Booker Washington has taken a 
foremost part by his writings and by means of a model 
industrial school at Tuskegee in Alabama. 

With the Indian and negro problems on hand, at the end 
of the nineteenth century, the United States cheerfully took 
up another race problem, bringing under its rule Malay 
races of the Pacific, to whom it gave good schools and reli¬ 
gious freedom. 

Is the Declaration of Independence to apply to white 
people and to favored black ones, and not to red and brown 


l 8 oo-igoo] 


NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT 


389 


races ? Are all men or only a selected part to share the 
government ? These questions remain to be answered. 
But more and more, the suffrage is coming to be regarded 
as a privilege rather than a right. 

Trusts. — During the last quarter of the nineteenth cen¬ 
tury, business men, by the power of capital and organiza¬ 
tion, began to control markets and prices in a way hitherto 
unknown. John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, Edward 
H. Harriman, and other great ‘ captains of industry ’ gained 
control of oil, steel, railways, and various other products 
and public services. Most of these men started life as 
penniless boys, and by their genius for finance acquired 
vast fortunes. Laboring men complained that the corpo¬ 
rations and trusts which built up the fortunes of these 
multi-millionaires did so by unfair control of markets and 
prices. It was proved that some of these organizations 
were using dishonest methods and were breaking the laws 
of the land, and public opinion began to demand govern¬ 
ment investigation and control of trusts. 

American laws and ideals. — It is a grave question as to 
how laws are to protect at once the interests of *he poor 
and the rights of the rich. Americans believe that this can 
be done. They believe that it must be done, and that all 
men, rich and poor, must have fair dealings and must share 
the burdens and the opportunities of the nation. The ques¬ 
tions before the country must be decided, not in the inter¬ 
ests of one section nor one class, but in the interests of the 
whole people. As compromises were necessary in order to 
form the government, compromises are necessary to carry 
it on. True patriots see to-day, as Washington saw, that 
men, states, and sections must sometimes sacrifice their 
wishes and even their interests to the welfare of the 
whole country. Americans have faith in their govern¬ 
ment founded on the principles of liberty, equality, and 


3Q0 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1800-1900 

fraternity, and they believe that during the twentieth cen¬ 
tury as during the nineteenth the history of the nation will 
be one of progress and of noble achievement. 

Summary [1800-1900]. — During the nineteenth century, the United 
States advanced rapidly in many ways. By purchase, by treaty, by an¬ 
nexation, and by war, it extended its territory. By growth and by im¬ 
migration, it increased in population. Its resources were developed, 
many useful inventions were made, and it increased in material wealth. 
An excellent system of free schools was extended over the country and 
many colleges and universities were established. Good work was done 
by American authors, scientists, artists, architects, and musicians. The 
end of the nineteenth century found serious problems before the country, 
but with faith in its educational and political institutions, America faced 
the twentieth century. 

10. McKinley and Roosevelt’s Term [1901-1905] 

Republican 

McKinley assassinated [September 14, 1901]. — The 

policies of McKinley were approved by his party, and he 
was reelected. The autumn after he began his second term, 
he went to an exposition at Buffalo, New York. A man 
approached as if to shake hands, and shot the president, 
inflicting a wound which proved fatal. The murderer, Leon 
Czolgosz, was an anarchist, the son of a Polish immigrant. 

President Roosevelt. — Vice president Roosevelt suc¬ 
ceeded McKinley. Roosevelt, although only forty-two 
years old, had had varied experiences of life. He was a 
member of an old Dutch family and his home was New York 
City; he had lived on a western ranch, and had written 
books about hunting and about American history. He 
was appointed Assistant Secretary of the Navy during 
McKinley’s first term, but resigned to organize a volunteer 
cavalry regiment in the War with Spain. This regiment, 
known as Roosevelt’s Rough Riders, did good service in 
the battle of San Juan Hill. After the war, Roosevelt was 


igoi] 


NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT 


391 


elected governor of New York and he took an active interest 
in politics, proving shrewd, resolute, vigorous, and aggres¬ 
sive. Politicians were in favor of making the active young 
reformer vice president, thinking he would be safely bottled 
up in an honorable 
position of little in¬ 
fluence. By a turn 
of fate, he became 
chief executive. 

Strikes. — Soon 
after Roosevelt be¬ 
came president, 
there was a great 
strike of coal miners 
in Pennsylvania. 

The strike lasted 
several months. 

Coal was scarce and 
high, and thousands 
of poor people suf¬ 
fered for want of 
fuel. By the con¬ 
sent of employers and employees, the president appointed 
a commission which settled the strike. This was extend¬ 
ing the power of arbitration in a way to secure the best 
interests of the country. 

Conservation of national resources. — By degrees, there 
was being made an organized effort to conserve the re¬ 
sources of the country, — to save forests, reclaim deserts, 
improve water-ways, and use them to advantage. Year 
by year, people are realizing more clearly the importance 
of this work, and individuals, states, and the national gov¬ 
ernment are trying to use and improve instead of destroy¬ 
ing our natural resources. 



Theodore Roosevelt 




392 


SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1901 


Forests are important to the welfare of a country. They 
not only supply lumber, but they prevent soil waste and 
regulate the flow of streams so as to make them more 
valuable for water power, navigation, and agriculture. The 
National Forest Service was organized in order to check 
the destruction and waste of American forests. Instead 
of leaving all the country open to men who wish to take 
up claims, Congress set aside forest reserves around the 
headwaters of streams. The forest reserves, national 
parks, and Indian reservations are largest and most numer¬ 
ous in the thinly-settled western states where most of the 
land is still owned by the government. More than half the 
territory of Idaho and over one-fourth of several other 
states are included in reservations. 

By the beginning of the twentieth century, most of the 
well-watered, fertile public land had been settled. There 
were in the arid and semi-arid regions of the West several 
hundred million acres of land which needed only water to 
make it highly productive. The work of irrigating these 
regions was too vast to be undertaken by individuals or 
even by states. Congress devoted the money paid for cer¬ 
tain public lands to the purpose of building reservoirs and 
canals to supply arid regions with water. This money was 
afterward to be repaid by the sale of irrigated lands. 

For three-quarters of a century, the government had 
been appropriating large sums of money for the improve¬ 
ment of rivers and harbors; but little permanent benefit 
was gained on account of lack of system in planning and 
executing the work. Now plans were made for the system¬ 
atic improvement of American water-ways. Among the 
schemes suggested were a deep water-way from Chicago 
to the Mississippi River, the improvement of the Ohio, 
Missouri, and Mississippi rivers, and the construction of an 
inland water-way along the Atlantic from Maine to Florida, 


1902] 


NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT 


393 


Panama Canal. — During Roosevelt’s first term, the 
American government engaged in an enterprise of world¬ 
wide importance. This was the construction of a canal 



across the isthmus between North and South America. 
A French company had undertaken to build a sea-level 
canal across the Isthmus of Panama. After spending 
eight years and $260,000,000 in the attempt, the company 
failed. The War with Spain made the United States feel 
more than ever the need of a water-way through the isth¬ 
mus. When the war began, the battleship Oregon was at 



Map of the Panama Canal Zone 


San Francisco, and it had to come 13,000 miles to join the 
Atlantic squadron. The United States resolved to build a 
great canal which would shorten by 8000 miles the water 
route from New York to San Francisco. It purchased the 







394 


SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOTLE [1902 


French company’s property and canal rights for $40,000,000 
and paid the republic of Panama $ 10,000,000 for a ‘ Canal 
Zone’ ten miles wide. Across this the Americans con¬ 
structed a great lock canal which they agreed should be 
open to all nations of the world on equal terms. Work on 
the canal was prosecuted with such vigor that it was 
finished in ten years [1914]. Colonel George Goethals 
was in charge of the canal construction. The two chief 
engineering tasks were the great Gatun Dam, a mile and a 
half long, and the Culebra Cut, half a mile wide and five 
hundred feet deep, through the mountain system which is 
the ‘backbone of the continent.’ 

The sanitation of the Canal Zone was almost as great 
an undertaking as these engineering feats. The French 
failure to construct a Panama Canal was due largely to the 
unwholesome conditions of the hot, wet, fever-stricken 
region, which for four centuries had been known as ‘ the 
white man’s grave.’ The first work that the Americans 
undertook was the sanitation of the Canal Zone. Under 
the direction of Surgeon-General W. C. Gorgas, the country 
was cleaned, swamps were drained, sanitary methods of 
living were adopted, and the isthmus was rendered a 
wholesome home for the army of 50,000 workmen. The 
death rate, which had been 170 to the 1000 under French 
rule, was reduced to 9 to the 1000. 

The Panama Canal will have great and far-reaching 
effects not only in the United States but throughout the 
world. The sea distance from the east to the west coast 
of the United States is cut in half, and the efficiency of 
our navy is practically doubled by making it possible to 
unite the Atlantic and Pacific squadrons promptly so as to 
use them together. The routes from Europe to western 
America and the islands of the Pacific are greatly lessened. 
In fact, the canal changes and shortens the trade routes of 


1903] 


NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT 


395 


the world. This means, of course, a great saving of time 
and money. The southern states will be especially bene¬ 
fited by their nearness to this new highway of the world’s 
trade. There will be increased demand at better prices 
for their products, their industries will thrive and become 
more varied, their ports and cities will grow. 

American ships.—The War with Spain and the acquir¬ 
ing by the United States of island possessions led to the 
building up of the American navy. Appropriations were 
made for mammoth warships having, in addition to other 
batteries, twelve-inch guns so arranged in turrets that all 
can be fired in a broadside. Within a few years, the navy 
was doubled in size and strength. 

The growth of the American merchant service did not 
keep pace with the increase in naval power. Early in the 
nineteenth century, the United States had ships which 
carried on nine-tenths of the country’s export trade. At 
the beginning of the twentieth century, less than one-tenth 
of the exports were carried in American ships. 

Department of Commerce and Labor. — During Roose¬ 
velt’s first term, a new department was established [1903], 
including bureaus or divisions, dealing with questions about 
transportation and labor. The Secretary of Commerce and 
Labor became the ninth member of the president’s cabinet. 
A few years later, this department was divided, forming 
the Departments of Commerce and of Labor. 

Summary [1901-1905]. — William McKinley of Ohio, the twenty- 
fifth president, was assassinated by an anarchist a few months after he 
began his second term. Theodore Roosevelt of New York became the 
twenty-sixth president, being the fifth vice president to hold that office. 
During Roosevelt’s first term, the Alaskan boundary question was 
settled, the Panama Canal was begun, forest reserves were extended, 
and a National Irrigation Act was passed. 


396 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE (1905 

11. Roosevelt’s Second Term [1905-1909] 
Republican 

Roosevelt’s policies. — Roosevelt’s first term was so popu¬ 
lar that he was reelected by a large majority. He said that 

during his first term his 
main object had been to 
carry out the policies 
of McKinley; he an¬ 
nounced that during his 
second term his object 
would be to carry out his 
own policies, the chief 
of which were the regu¬ 
lation of “big business” 
and the conservation 
of national resources, 
especially of forests. 

“Big business.”—The infant industries of the United 
States had been protected until they had become giants. 
The combinations called trusts had increased rapidly. 
They controlled nearly all the output of the sugar and 
three-fourths of the steel, oil, and paper of the country ; in 
fact, they controlled about one-third of the products of all 
the nation’s industries, excluding agriculture. This con¬ 
dition of affairs was attributed by most people to the 
failure to enforce strictly the anti-trust laws and much was 
hoped from the prosecution of trusts which were breaking 
the laws by crushing out competition and controlling 
markets. Despite these prosecutions, during Roosevelt’s 
presidency the number of “ big business ” combinations 
increased enormously. 

Industrial laws. — Steps were taken to conserve forests 
and waterways, and the greatest of all national resources, 



Roosevelt Dam, Arizona, — to Irrigate Arid 
Region 







igo6] 


NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT 


397 


the health and lives of the citizens. Congress passed laws 
to regulate the working hours of railroad employees in 
interstate service, and to provide for the regulation of the 
rates of railroads engaged in interstate traffic. It passed 
pure food laws that forbade the use of injurious substances 
in foods and drugs entering interstate trade, and required 
labels stating the adulterations, if any were used. 

Cuban affairs.—For several years after the War with 
Spain, the United States kept troops and a military gov¬ 
ernor in Cuba. Under this military government, order was 
restored, schools were established, roads were built, and 
sanitary regulations were adopted to prevent the Cuban 
cities from being, as before, breeding places of disease. 

After these reforms were made, the Americans with¬ 
drew and left a native government in charge of affairs. 
In a short time, there arose disorder and revolts which the 
government could not control. The United States again 
took a hand in Cuban affairs, and sent a military governor 
to the island. Three years later, when it seemed that 
order was again restored, the Americans withdrew a sec¬ 
ond time from the island, leaving it in control of a native 
president and Congress. 

Philippine government.—The American policy for the 
Philippine Islands was announced to be ‘ self-government 
when the Filipinos are fit for it.’ Vast sums were spent 
on sanitation and education and the industrial develop¬ 
ment of the islands. The Filipinos became more friendly 
as they saw the Americans carry out the promise to 
govern the islands for the benefit of the natives. The 
first step in self-government was adding a Philippine 
national assembly [1907] to act with the commission 
appointed by the president. The day set for the election 
of the native delegates to this assembly was July 30, the 
anniversary of the day on which the first legislative 


39B SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1905 


assembly in America met at Jamestown. That year was 
the three hundredth anniversary of the establishment of 
the Jamestown colony, for the ‘ welfare of the Kingdom 
of God and the Kingdom of England.’ From that small 
beginning had come a mighty self-governing nation, 
extending its civilizing influence to islands of the Atlantic 
and Pacific. 

Yellow fever in New Orleans. — In various ways, medical 
science was changing living conditions. It was robbing 
many germ diseases of their terrors. One midsummer 
day [1905], New Orleans discovered that yellow fever was 
raging in its midst. Only eight years before, it had 
brought panic and thousands of deaths to the city. There 
was no panic now; people had learned that the disease is 
carried by mosquitoes and can be checked by destroying 
these insects. The citizens of New Orleans organized ‘an 
army of sanitation,’ and held a great house cleaning. 

“ Kill the mosquitoes,” was the cry. 

All pools and vessels containing standing water were 
coated with oil or screened with netting or cloth. The 
work was just finished when a terrific storm tore loose 
the screens and washed off the oil. The labor of weary 
days and nights was undone. The next day, the people 
began to do the work over again and do it better than 
before. Old men, children, millionaires, street waifs, 
clergyman, bar keepers, worked side by side. Trained 
men of the Federal service took charge of affairs. Within 
two months, the yellow flags were taken down. New 
Orleans had won the greatest victory ever gained over an 
epidemic. For the first time in the history of yellow fever, 
it was conquered by man. 

Anti-liquor campaign. — The opening of the twentieth 
century witnessed a widespread movement against the use 
and sale of intoxicating liquors. Towns, counties, and 


1906] 


NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT 


399 


states passed prohibition laws, until more than half the 
area of the United States was ‘dry,’ — that is, with laws 
prohibiting the sale of liquor. The growth of temperance 
sentiment is largely due to the work of two organizations, 
the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union and the Anti- 
Saloon League. These send out hosts of books, papers, 
and lecturers to teach people the evils of the use of 
intoxicating drinks. For thirty years, the W. C. T. U. has 
been insisting on having literature put into school books 
to teach the injurious effects of alcohol; a generation of 
the children so taught have grown to manhood and are 
writing into the laws of our land the temperance prin¬ 
ciples learned at school. 

California earthquake [1906]. — Early in the twentieth 
century, there occurred the most destructive earthquake 
ever known in the United States. There were severe 
shocks along the Pacific coast. The city of San Francisco 
was destroyed by the earthquake and by the fire that 
followed it. Property to the value of $400,000,000 was 
destroyed and many lives were lost. Even before the 
ashes were cold, the brave Californians set to work to 
build a safer and more beautiful city. 

Oklahoma admitted to Union [1908]. — During Roose¬ 
velt’s second term, Oklahoma and Indian Territory were 
united and admitted as a state of the Union under the 
name Oklahoma. 

Wireless telegraph. — Marconi, a clever young Italian 
inventor, learned to utilize the waves of ether to carry 
messages instead of depending on instruments connected 
by wires. This system was promptly adopted, and in a 
few years, large ocean vessels were equipped with wireless 
apparatus and the globe was encircled with wireless 
stations. An event which occurred soon after the system 
was introduced illustrates its life-saving value. One foggy 


400 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1909 


winter night there was a collision between two ocean 
steamships, one of which, the Republic , was equipped with 
the wireless. Its operator sent out ‘ the ambulance call of 
the sea.’ Across the waves, through the foggy night, 
sped the cry for help, and ship after ship hundreds of 
miles away heard the call and hastened to the rescue. 
Without the wireless, the injured vessel might have sunk 
with all its crew and passengers, while ships a few miles 
away were ignorant of the disaster. 

‘Two Billion Dollar Congress.’ — The Sixtieth Congress 
was notable for the friction between it and the president. 
Members of Congress complained that President Roose¬ 
velt assumed powers which belong to the legislative and 
judicial departments, and they resented this assumption. 
This Congress is called the ‘Two Billion Dollar Congress’ 
from the amount of its appropriations. As our country 
grows, the expenditures of the government of course 
increase, but many people think they have become greater 
than is necessary or justifiable. During Roosevelt’s second 
term, the appropriations amounted to over $3,500,000,000, 
— the expenditures of the government during these four 
years being twice as much as its expenses during the 
seventy-two years from Washington’s inauguration to the 
War of Secession. The national expenses during Roose¬ 
velt’s two terms were nearly eight billion dollars. 

Taft elected president. — Roosevelt was so popular that 
his party would have nominated him for another term, but 
he repeated his statement of four years before that “under 
no circumstances ” would he “ be a candidate for or accept 
another nomination.’’ He used his influence to secure the 
nomination and election of Secretary-of-War William 
Howard Taft of Ohio. A third time the Democrats put 
forward Bryan ; a third time he was defeated. Demo¬ 
crats, Republicans, and several other parties that put for- 


NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT 


401 


1909] 

ward candidates declared in favor of better banking, 
currency, and tariff laws, and of other reforms for which 
there was general popular demand. 

Summary [1905-1909]. — During Roosevelt’s second term, Okla¬ 
homa was admitted to the Union, the United States intervened a 
second time in Cuban affairs, the Filipinos were granted a national 
assembly, there was an earthquake in California, Congress passed sev¬ 
eral useful industrial laws, and the use and sale of liquor were restricted 
in many states. 

12. Taft’s Term [1909-1913] 

Republican 

Taft’s policies. — President Taft had had twenty-seven 
years’ experience in public life before he became president. 
He set to work to give the country a business-like, economi¬ 
cal rule. During the first 
year of his term, the govern¬ 
ment’s expenses were re¬ 
duced $53,000,000, without 
lessening its efficiency. 

Many people wished to 
have new laws made to con¬ 
trol trusts and business com¬ 
binations, but the president 
declared himself in favor of 
enforcing the existing laws 
instead of making new ones. 

There were government suits 
against the Standard Oil 
Company and the American 
Tobacco Company for breaking the Sherman anti-trust 
law, and verdicts were obtained to dissolve these great 
trusts. Suits were begun against the Harvester Trust, 
the Steel Trust, and other combinations. 








402 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1909 


Payne-Aldrich Tariff Act [1909]. — The president called 
an extra session of Congress for the purpose of carrying 
out the Republican promise to revise the Dingley Tariff 
Act. After five-months’ discussion, the Payne-Aldrich 
Bill was passed. It was opposed by most of the Demo¬ 
crats and by progressive, or insurgent, Republicans, 
because it did not reduce the high protective rates. It 
lowered twenty per cent of the rates of the Dingley Act, 
left unchanged sixty-five per cent, and increased fifteen 
per cent; goods in common use — cottons, woolens, and 
rubber — were among those on which the duties were in¬ 
creased. There were two amendments to the Payne- 
Aldrich Act which were generally approved : one laid an 
annual tax of one per cent on the earnings of all corpora¬ 
tions; the other provided for a Tariff Board consisting of 
three experts whose duty was to investigate the cost of 
products at home and abroad, and to make reports to 
Congress as a basis for further tariff legislation. This 
Tariff Board passed out of existence two years later 
because funds were not appropriated to keep it up. 

Thirteenth Census [1910]. — The Thirteenth Census 
showed that the first ten years of the new century had 



been a period of wonderful growth and prosperity. The 
population of the United States was over 91,000,000 — 
twenty-five persons for every one when the first census 


























NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT 


403 


1910] 

was taken ; including territories, the population was over 
93,000,000; and including the Philippines and other de¬ 
pendencies, it was over 100,000,000. 

A noteworthy fact was the rapid increase of cities. In 
Washington’s time, there were in the United States only 



Courtesy of Literary Digest 

This Map shows Percentages of Population Increase, 1900-1910 


six cities having a population of 8000 or over; at the time 
of the Thirteenth Census, there were forty-seven cities with 
a population of over 100,000 each, the forty-seven contain¬ 
ing 28,000,000 people. 

One-third of the 91,000,000 people in the United States 
was of foreign birth or foreign parentage. Immigrants 
were no longer going only to the North and the West. 
The South was building up in a wonderful way; in twenty 
years, its population had increased nearly seventy per cent 
and its manufacturing capital had increased over seven 
hundred per cent. Instead of sending its cotton to the 
North and to England, it manufactured at home a large 
and increasing part of the crop. 

Agricultural advance. — The cotton crop held its place 












404 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1910 


as the greatest of all the agricultural products of the 
United States, being valued in 1910 at over $800,000,000; 
the total value of that year’s agricultural products was 
nearly $9,000,000,000. The United States had become the 
granary of the world, being the greatest of all food-export¬ 
ing countries. The development of this great industry is 
aided by the Department of Agriculture with its thousands 
of trained specialists. Every community in the nation 
feels its helping hand —encouraging agricultural education, 
establishing experimental farms, aiding in the control of 
plant and animal pests, and introducing profitable scientific 
methods in place of old haphazard ones. 

Gunnison Tunnel. —The exploits of men of our own race 
and time in developing the resources of the continent are 
as interesting as the adventures of De Soto, Coronado, and 
other early explorers. One of many instances was the 
exploration of the Gunnison River, in order to decide if it 
were feasible to use the stream to irrigate a desert region 
in southwestern Colorado. A. L. Fellows and W. W. 
Torrence, two engineers of the government reclamation 
service, entered the Black Canon, which had been pro¬ 
nounced impassable, and followed the Gunnison River 
thirty miles down its course. Three thousand feet above 
them rose the rock walls of the canon, narrowing at the 
bottom to a width of thirty or forty feet. Down its 
boulder-strewn bed, in rapids, over falls, through grim 
underground channels, the stream rushed with the speed 
of a mill race. By day, the explorers toiled on, climbing, 
crawling, limping, wading, swimming, taking notes, and 
making records; by night, they snatched a few hours’ rest, 
lying on narrow ledges of rock, drenched with spray from 
the snow-fed stream. Under all these difficulties, they 
made a survey which proved that it would be feasible to 
use the stream for irrigation. After ten years’ labor, the 


1909 ] 


NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT 


405 


Gunnison Tunnel, the first of the great irrigation systems 
of the national government, was completed. The wild 
torrent was turned from its canon bed, carried through a 
six-mile tunnel under the mountains, and made to bring 
fertility to the desert. It supplies a canal four hundred 
miles long with water, and has changed 200,000 acres from 
a desert where no creature could live into a fertile region 
with herds, crops, orchards, and gardens. 

Discovery of North and South Poles. — For four centu¬ 
ries, expedition after expedition had explored the polar 
regions and hun¬ 
dreds of brave 
men had lost their 
lives in attempts 
to reach the poles. 

At last an Ameri¬ 
can, Commander 
Robert N. Peary, 
who had spent 
t w e n ty-t h r ee 
years in Arctic 
explorations, 
reached the north¬ 
ern goal [1909]. 

He made a rapid 
sled journey from 
his ship across the 
ice of the polar 
sea and with five 
companions reached the Pole. About two years later, the 
South Pole was reached by two explorers ; first by a Nor¬ 
wegian, Captain Roald Amundsen, and a few weeks later 
by a brave Englishman, Captain Robert Scott, who perished 
on the return journey toward his base of supplies. 



Commander Peary and his Dogs 



406 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [w* 

Air and ocean travel. — Another long-cherished scheme 
was carried out when men learned to navigate the air. A 

pioneer in air travel was an 
American, Samuel P. Lang¬ 
ley, who made a flight of 
nearly a mile in a machine 
driven by a small steam 
engine [1896]. A few 
years later, several suc¬ 
cessful flying machines 
were invented. Among 
the foremost “ bird men ” 
were Orville and Wilbur 
Wright, Glenn Curtiss, and 
other Americans. Within 
a few years, there were 
made cross-country flights 
of two or three thousand 
miles, a speed of over a hun¬ 
dred miles an hour was at¬ 
tained, and ascensions were 
made to a height of eighteen thousand feet. Flying ma¬ 
chines were adopted as a part of army service, to be used 
instead of cavalry for scouting purposes. Practical scientists 
are laboring to make machines reliable for passenger service. 

While mastery of the air was being gained, new records 
were made for ocean travel. The steamship time across 
the Atlantic was lowered by one great ‘ ocean greyhound ’ 
after another until the ocean was crossed in less than 
four and a half days. Huge vessels were built that 
were floating palaces. Despite safety devices, some of 
these great vessels met with appalling disasters. One of 
them, the Titanic , struck an iceberg at midnight off the 
coast of Newfoundland [1912]. Over 1600 persons were 



Wright’s Biplane 




NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT 


1911] 


407 


drowned; 700 were rescued by the Carpathia , summoned 
by the sinking ship’s wireless calls. 

Postal savings banks and parcel post. — In two ways the 
service of the postal department was increased while Taft 
was president. Postal savings banks were established 
[1911] to provide a depository for small savings. These 
banks receive sums ranging from one dollar to five hun¬ 
dred dollars, and pay two and a half per cent interest. The 
first depositor in the first bank was an eleven-year-old boy, 
who proudly put in his two-dollar ‘ nest egg.’ 

As popular as the postal savings banks and of even 
more widespread usefulness is the domestic parcel post. 
Begun as an experiment with special stamps [1913], in a 
few months it was handling a large share of the small pack¬ 
ages of the country. Its efficiency has been increased by 
decreasing its rates and increasing the size and weight of 
the packages that may be carried by it. 

Arbitration treaties. — After continuing nearly a century, 
a fisheries dispute between the United States and Great 
Britain was settled by arbitration [ 1911 ] to the satisfaction, 
in the main, of both parties. The next year [1912], 
treaties of arbitration were made by the United States with 
France and Great Britain. It was agreed that their dis¬ 
putes should be submitted to arbitration, these great nations 
being “ resolved that no future difference shall be a cause 
of hostilities between them or interrupt their good relations 
and friendship.” 

New states. — During Taft’s presidency, two new states 
were admitted, Arizona and New Mexico [1912]. There 
were now forty-eight states, and no territories were left 
within the borders of the United States. 

Wilson elected president.—The Payne-Aldrich Tariff 
Act was approved by the regular, or ‘ stand pat,’ Republi¬ 
cans and was opposed by the progressives, or ‘ insurgents.’ 


408 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1912 


Dissension in the Republican ranks increased when Roose¬ 
velt announced himself again a candidate for the presidency. 
Republicans in favor of Taft secured his renomination 
and the Roosevelt followers formed a new party called 
the Progressive. The Progressives proclaimed a “ new 
nationalism”; they declared in favor of government control 
of “ problems which have expanded beyond the reach of the 
individual states” and “equal suffrage to men and women 
alike,” and nominated Roosevelt for the presidency. 

The Democrats had made use of their majority in the 
House to change its rules so as to lessen the power of the 
speaker to direct and block legislation; they declared in 
favor of other reforms, — “downward revision ” of the tariff, 
better currency laws, anti-trust legislation, an income tax, 
and election of senators by popular vote; on this platform 
they nominated Woodrow Wilson of Virginia, a Southerner 
of national training, who was governor of New Jersey. 
Wilson was elected, receiving 435 of the 531 electoral votes. 

For the first time since the War of Secession, a South¬ 
ern man was chosen for chief executive; here was proof 
that after half a century the separation of sections was 
over and there was a real Union. And for the first time since 
that war, the Democratic party really controlled the three 
branches of the government and was to take its turn at 
‘ constructive ’ statesmanship. That party had had nominal 
control in Cleveland’s second term, but it divided on the cur¬ 
rency question and never came together as a working force. 

Summary [1909-1913]. — William Howard Taft of Ohio, the twenty- 
seventh president, served one term. During his presidency, the Payne- 
Aldrich Tariff Act was passed, postal savings banks and a domestic parcel 
post were established, and the states of Arizona and New Mexico were 
admitted to the Union. Other interesting events of the time were the 
discovery of the North Pole by an American, the invention of airships, 
the settling by arbitration of a fisheries dispute with Great Britain, and 
the making of arbitration treaties with France and Great Britain. 


1913] 


NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT 


409 



13. President Wilson [1913 -] 


Democratic 


President Wilson. — With each election during the last 
century, the personality of the president has become a 
matter of more importance. By making use of his Consti¬ 
tutional power to 
suggest legisla¬ 
tion and his veto 
power, the presi¬ 
dent has become 
really, as Presi- 
dent Wilson 
phrased it, “ the 
head of the gov¬ 
ernment and the 
responsible leader 
of the party in 
power.” 

When Wilson 
became president, 
people knew him 
chiefly as the 
able president of 
Princeton Univer¬ 
sity, the reform 
governor of New 
Jersey, a Student Woodrow Wilson 

and scholar who 

had written with wisdom and refreshing common sense and 
charming lucidity of style about American history and 
politics. He promptly showed himself a great leader, 
masterful and tactful, who stated simply and held steadily 








4io SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [19x3 


fine ideals. With due regard to the party that elected him, 
but with chief regard to the welfare of the whole people, 
he led the work for which his party had been put in power. 
The most important of this legislative work was the reform of 
tariff and currency systems and the better control of trusts. 



Glass of Virginia, Clark of Missouri, and Underwood of Alabama, — three leaders of 
the first Democratic working majority in Congress for over sixty years. 


Underwood Tariff Act [1913]. — Under the leadership of 
Oscar Underwood, the Democrats passed a law which 
greatly reduced the general average of tariff rates; the 
rates on cotton and woolen goods were lowered, and sugar 
and wool were put on the free list. In order to raise needed 
revenue, the Underwood Tariff Act carried an income tax 
of 1 % on incomes above $3000. 

Federal Reserve Act [1914]. — After the tariff act was 
passed, Congress turned to the banking and currency ques¬ 
tion. A bill introduced by Carter Glass was passed, which 
was approved, on the whole, by bankers and the general 
public and which established a banking system that may 
be of as great service to the United States as the famous 
Bank of England is to Great Britain. The Glass-Owen 
Bill, or Federal Reserve Act, upheld the gold standard. It 
planned to replace, within twenty years, national bank 




1 914 ] 


NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT 


411 


notes by federal reserve notes which are to be redeemed, 
on demand, in gold by the Treasury Department. 

There are twelve Federal Reserve Banks supervised by 
a Federal Reserve Board, with a Federal Advisory Board. 
The Reserve Board, consisting of seven members, by its 
supervision unites the banks in a national policy and gains 
cooperation among them. The banking business of issuing 



notes, discounting paper, and using deposits is conducted 
by the Reserve Banks [opened November 16]. The 
capital of each bank is provided by banks in its district, 
national banks being required to come into the system and 
state institutions being allowed to do so. The Reserve 
Banks are the “ financial trustees of the nation ” ; they are 
to supervise and control their member banks; to keep large 
reserve funds, especially of gold, so as to assist members 
in need; and to promote banking and business safety and 
prosperity. The Federal Advisory Board is composed of 
members chosen by Reserve Banks. 

A complement to the Federal Reserve Act is a “rural 
credits ” bill to provide banking accommodation for the 










412 


SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [iqm 


farmers, enabling them to obtain loans with land as 
security. 

Anti-trust legislation.— Trust-controlling legislation 
finally took shape in three bills. The Clayton Anti-trust Bill 
supplements the Sherman Act; it forbids certain business 
methods which restrain competition and it holds the in¬ 
dividuals in a law-breaking corporation personally responsi¬ 
ble as criminals. The Trade Commission Bill established 
an Interstate Trade Commission the duty of which is to 
investigate the organization and management of corpora¬ 
tions so as to see that they conduct their business in ac¬ 
cordance with the law. The Rayburn Railroad Bill gives 
the Interstate Commerce Commission power to control 
railway stock and bond issues. 

Constitutional amendments.—Two amendments to the 
Constitution passed by Congress during Taft’s presidency, 
having been approved by the required three-fourths of 
the states, became a part of the law of the land [1913]. 
The Sixteenth Amendment gives Congress power to lay 
an income tax. The Seventeenth Amendment provides 
that senators shall be elected by the direct vote of the 
people, instead of by state legislatures. These were 
the first amendments since the three passed after the 
War of Secession, to give freedom and civil rights to 
the negro. 

New political methods. —The Seventeenth Amendment 
shows the growing disposition of the people to take 
direct governing power; fortunately, this is united with 
a growing disposition to put affairs into the hands of 
experts, directly responsible to the electors. In public 
matters, people are beginning to use the methods they 
take to secure efficient service in private business. A 
noteworthy instance of this was the adoption by Galveston 
and other cities of the commission form of government. 


IQI 4 ] 


NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT 


413 


By this effective and economical plan, a small group of 
persons, usually five, is made responsible for the manage¬ 
ment of a city, as a board of directors is of a railway 
or other business. Some cities have a manager, instead 
of a commission. 

In electing a commission or manager, the people usually 
reserve for themselves the rights of initiative, referendum, 
and recall. The initiative gives the people the right to 
initiate, or begin, legislation; if a certain per cent of voters 
state their views to their legislature, it must take action on 
the subject. The referendum refers laws from the legisla¬ 
ture to the people for final adoption or rejection; on peti¬ 
tion of a certain per cent of voters, any measure passed by 
the legislature must be ratified by the popular vote in order 
to become law. The recall gives electors the right to 
recall, or dismiss, an official with whom they become dis¬ 
satisfied and to replace him with another, without waiting 
for a regular election. In many states, especially in the 
West, the initiative, referendum, and recall have been 
adopted for state-wide use. 

Equal suffrage. — Changed industrial conditions bring 
women in ever-increasing numbers into the ranks of wage- 
earners, and so tend to bring them into the political world. 
Twelve states have adopted equal suffrage, — Wyoming, 
Nevada, Colorado, Utah, Idaho, California, Washington, 
Oregon, Arizona, Kansas, Illinois, and Montana. In many 
other states, women vote about school matters and women 
tax-payers vote on questions of taxation. 

Welfare work. — Women are leading many great welfare 
movements. Chief among these is the Woman’s Christian 
Temperance Union, founded by Miss Frances Willard, 
which has now a membership of over half a million and 
has auxiliaries in over fifty countries and provinces. 
Miss Clara Barton and Miss Mabel Boardman directed the 


414 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1914 


work of the Red Cross Society, at first established to care 
for ill and wounded soldiers, then broadened to serve 
sufferers from flood, fire, and other calamities. Miss Julia 

Lathrop is in charge of the 
Children’s Bureau, recently 
established to investigate mat¬ 
ters concerning the welfare of 
children. Miss Jane Addams 
is a leader in the work to uplift 
the submerged classes in great 
cities. Among these welfare 
workers was Mrs. Woodrow 
Wilson, the wife of the presi¬ 
dent, in response to whose 
dying wish Congress passed a 
bill eliminating objectionable 
alleys in Washington City, 
jane Addams Mexican affairs. — Early in 

Wilson’s presidency, the state 
of affairs in Mexico attracted serious attention. Mexico 
is a very rich- country, but its people are very poor. 
Its resources have been exploited largely by foreigners 
who have obtained mining, oil, commercial, and banking 
interests and concessions and who have stirred up revolts 
and insurrections to further their business schemes. 

President Wilson broadened the Monroe Doctrine, prac¬ 
tically taking the position that not only must Europe keep 
out of our hemisphere in a political sense, but that the 
Spanish-American states of the western continent must 
be left free to manage their own affairs, without the 
interference of foreign business interests. He refused 
to recognize as president Victoriano Huerta, an adventurer 
who obtained control of the Mexican government. No 
active part was taken in Mexican affairs, however, until 




1914] 


NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT 


415 


Huerta’s soldiers at Tampico seized unarmed marines 
on a boat carrying the flag of the United States. Then 
demand was made that the Mexicans salute the Ameri¬ 
can flag, as apology. Huerta 
refused and American forces, 
sent to uphold our national 
rights and dignity, occupied 
Vera Cruz. Argentina, Brazil, 
and Chile offered their services 
as mediators. Through their 
influence and by the skill, 
patience, and wisdom of the 
American government, the with¬ 
drawal of Huerta was effected 
and war was averted. 

Arbitration treaties. — The 
‘ABC’ conference about Mexi¬ 
can affairs is significant of the 
growing feeling that war is 
brutal and wasteful, foolish and wicked. “There is no 
difference so fundamental that it cannot be settled in 
peace and mutual respect if both sides are willing to be 
just and patient.” 

One of the leaders in a movement for international 
peace is Secretary-of-State Bryan, by whom twenty-six arbi¬ 
tration treaties have been made between the United States 
and other countries, — including Spanish-American re¬ 
publics, China, and several European countries. These 
treaties provide for commissions of inquiry in case of dis¬ 
putes between nations, and require a year’s investigation 
before the declaring of war, thus causing nations to act 
with sober good judgment. 

National peace and reunion. — 1914 rounds out a cen¬ 
tury of peace among English-speaking people, being the 





Confederate Monument in Arlington National Cemetery 

to the South as the home of General Robert E. Lee and 
consecrated to the North by being a national cemetery. 
On this monument are a plow and a pruning-hook and 
these words: “ They have beaten their swords into plow¬ 
shares and their spears into pruning-hooks.” One of the 
contributors to this monument was a New Jersey regiment 


416 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE [1914 

hundredth anniversary of the treaty of Ghent which ended 
the war of 1812. 

Significant of the reunion of sections is the monument 
to Confederate soldiers, erected at Arlington, a place sacred 






NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT 


417 


1914] 

which had shortly before given a striking instance of mag¬ 
nanimity. It erected a battlefield monument having on 
one side an appropriate inscription in honor of its own 
dead and on the other side a tablet: “ To the brave Ala¬ 
bama boys who were our opponents on this field and whose 
memory we honor.” 

Thus this chapter of our history ends, with peace and 
good-will in our land. The LInited States and Great Brit¬ 
ain, estranged by two wars, have been reconciled during a 
century of peace; the sister sections, after a bitter era of 
discord and war, are going forward side by side, a great 
reunited nation. 

New chapters of our history will be made by the boys 
and girls who are to-day studying history. In their hands 
is the future of our nation, the keeping of it true to the 
great ideals of its founders, —liberty, peace, and righteous¬ 
ness. 

European war. —While we have peace at home, there is 
raging the most colossal war in the history of the world. 
The murder of an Austrian archduke by a Serb was fol¬ 
lowed by a declaration of war by Austria against Servia 
[July 28]. Through military alliances and business and 
political interests, one country after another was drawn 
into the contest, until the war involves most of Europe 
and Africa and the greater part of Asia. 

This great war is being fought with new and deadly 
weapons, — long-range rifles, powerful howitzers, guns of 
twenty-mile range, air-craft of all kinds, armed and armored 
automobiles. With all these new devices, the story of the 
war is the old, old one. Brave, strong young men are 
busy killing one another, nations are being impoverished 
and filled with feeble men, widowed women, and fatherless 
children. 

Common interests have so bound the world into one 


418 SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE Nu 


great community, that even a neutral nation, like the 
United States, suffers in this war. The price of many 
commodities — especially cotton, of which crop Europe 
usually takes two-thirds — declined, and the decrease of 
tariff receipts made it necessary to lay a war tax to 
raise $100,000,000 revenue. 

The people of the United States being drawn chiefly 
from the warring nations, “ it is natural and inevitable that 
there should be the utmost variety of sympathy,” but the 
president wisely urges all Americans to “act and speak in 
the true spirit of neutrality which is the spirit of impar¬ 
tiality and fairness and friendliness to all concerned.” 
Thus this great country of ours will be “ fit and free to do 
what is honest and disinterested and serviceable for the 
peace of the world,” — a peace that may be, not the quiet of 
an armed camp like modern Europe, but a lasting concord. 


APPENDIX 

TOPICS FOR STUDY 


CHAPTER 1 
Geographical Studies 

Locate on the map all places mentioned in the text. 

1. Draw an outline map of North America. Mark on it the ranges 
of the chief crop plants ; of the chief mineral and metal deposits. 

2. Mark on a map of North America the range of savage Indian 
tribes ; of barbarous ones ; of partly-civilized ones. 

3. Trace the probable course of Leif the Lucky. 

4. Trace on the map the principal trade routes from Venice and 
Genoa to India. How far is it from Italy to India by way of the ocean 
route south of Africa ? 

5. Trace on the map the course of the four voyages of Columbus; 
the two of Cabot; the voyage of Da Gama. Use different-colored 
crayons for each. 

6. Trace on the map the probable route of Narvaez ; of De‘ Soto ; of 
Coronado. Trace the course followed by Magellan’s ship and by Drake 
on their voyages around the world. 

Suggestive Questions 

1. Tell some ways in which America is adapted to be the home of a 
great nation. Name some ways in which men may improve a country; 
some ways in which they may injure it. 

2. Was there a fair division of duties between Indian men and 
women? Give reasons for your opinion. Compare an Indian boy’s 
education with your own. Why did the English adopt into their 
language such words as ‘wigwam,’ ‘moccasin,’ and ‘tobacco’? De¬ 
scribe Indian relics that you have seen. Is it more or less difficult for 
Indians in America to lead a savage life now than it was four hundred 
years ago ? Why ? 

3. Name five words describing the Northmen and mention facts to 
prove that they possessed the qualities named. 


1 


11 


TOPICS FOR STUDY 


4. Make a list of products which Europeans obtained from India. 
Give reasons why Venice and Genoa obtained control of the eastern 
trade. Tell why land travel was so much slower and more difficult 
during the Middle Ages than it is now; sea travel. Describe the 
mariners compass and its uses. 

5. Contrast Columbus’s reception on his return from his first voyage 
and from his fourth. Name some traits of Columbus’s character and 
give incidents to prove them. Why was so little attention paid at the 
time to Cabot’s voyage? Was it more or less important than Da 
Gama’s? Why? Name three European nations which sent expedi¬ 
tions to America; tell what regions were discovered by each. 

6. Why did early discoverers make so few investigations in the 
interior of America? Tell about the explorers who first visited the 
interior. Tell about three discoverers connected with the Pacific 
Ocean. Why did Spain excel other countries in discoveries and ex¬ 
plorations in the New World? Tell what effect the Great Armada had 
on American colonization. Name other events that took place about the 
time that the Armada was destroyed. What facts did Europeans learn 
about the United States between 1497 and 1600? What important 
facts did they fail to learn? Make in your notebook a list of Spanish, 
of French, and of English discoverers of the sixteenth century according 
to the following plan: — 


Name 


Region visited 


Date 


Exercises 

1. Resolved: that short, rapid rivers are more useful in the develop¬ 
ment of a country than long, slow ones. Write an account of Indian 
corn, telling its history, range, uses, and value ; illustrate the sketch 
with drawings of the plant and its parts. 

2. Resolved: that it was right for Europeans to take land from the 
Indians. Write an account of the life of an Indian from babyhood 
to manhood; illustrate the sketch with pictures of Indian tools and 
utensils. 

3. Write an account of a Northman’s voyage. Draw a picture of a 
Norse vessel. 

4. Resolved: that the Turkish conquests were a benefit to Europe. 
Tell the story of a pearl from its discovery in Ceylon to its wearing by 





TOPICS FOR STUDY 


in 

& \ enetian lady ; illustrate the story with pictures of the people through 
whose hands the gem passed. 

5 Describe Columbus’s first voyage, in a letter purporting to be 
from a sailor on his vessel. Draw a picture of a caravel. Compare a 
caravel with a Norse ship and an Indian canoe. 

6. Resolved: that Spain had a just claim to the whole continent of 
North America. Write an account of the United States, purporting to 
be by a European in 1600. Describe the journey of one of the Spanish 
explorers of the United States ; illustrate the sketch with pictures of the 
regions visited. 

Suggested Readings 

Contemporary Writings. — The voyage to Vinland, from the Saga 
of Eric the Red; Marco Polo’s account of Japan and Java; Columbus’s 
letter to Gabriel Sanchez, describing his first voyage; Coronado’s 
journey to New Mexico and the Great Plains; Pasqualigo’s and Sou- 
cino’s letters about Cabot’s first voyage. 

Illustrative Literature. — Hiawatha, “ Discovery of the North 
Cape,” and “Skeleton in Armor” by H. W. Longfellow; “Voyage to 
Vinland” by J. R. Lowell; “Columbus” by Joaquin Miller; “The 
Triumph” from Psalm of the West by Sidney Lanier; “Columbus” by 
Alfred Tennyson ; Westward Hoi by Charles Kingsley. 

Picture List 

The Rocky Mountains by Bierstadt ; other pictures of American 
scenes: the illustrations in Catlin’s North Aitierican Indians; Fred¬ 
erick Remington’s pictures of Indians, especially his Hiawatha illustra¬ 
tions ; statue of Erikson by Anne Whitney; Columbus before the 
Council of Salamanca by Barabino; Columbus at the Court of Ferdi¬ 
nand and Isabella by Brozik; Departure of Columbus from Palos by 
Balaca; Landing of Columbus by Vanderlyn; Reception of Columbus 
after his First Voyage by Balaca; statue of John Cabot and his Son 
Sebastian by Cassidy; the Grand Canon by Louis Akin; pictures of 
Spanish life, especially those of Murillo and of Velasquez. 

CHAPTER II 
Geographical Studies 

Locate on the map all places mentioned in the text. 

2. Is the northwest passage around America useful for commerce ? 
Give reasons. 


IV TOPICS FOR STUDY 

3. Mark on the map the New England colonies in the order of 
settlement. 

4. Draw a map of Manhattan Island and the surrounding country. 
Why was this island a good site for a trading post ? 

8. Mark on a map of North America the chief settlements made during 
the seventeenth century, using different-colored crayons for the English, 
Spanish, French, Dutch, and Swedish. Indicate with the colored crayons 
changes in ownership. Tell how geographical conditions determined 
the industries of the different colonies. 

Suggestive Questions 

1. Why did not the Spaniards occupy the United States? What 
motives led the English to colonize America? Tell briefly what was 
accomplished by the Spanish, by the French, and by the English in the 
New World during the sixteenth century. Compare the French and the 
Spanish treatment of the Indians. 

2. What mistake did early explorers and settlers make about the 
width of the United States? What facts misled them? Give some rea¬ 
sons for the suffering of the early colonists. Could all of it have been 
avoided? Could some of it have been avoided? If so, how? In which 
is it necessary for men to work harder, a new or an old country ? Give 
reasons for your opinion. Compare the industries of Spanish, French, 
Dutch, and English colonies. Which was the best foundation for a 
colony? Give reasons for your opinion. Give an account of the first 
House of Burgesses. Tell some reasons urged in favor of slavery; 
some reasons against it. What was accomplished by the first English 
colony before a second one came over? 

3. Describe the religious conditions of Europe in 1600. Compare 
them with the conditions in our time and country. Mention points of 
likeness between the Pilgrims and the Puritans ; of unlikeness. Why 
did the Massachusetts Bay colony grow so much more rapidly than the 
other New England colonies? Compare Hooker’s and Winthrop’s views 
about government. Ought Rhode Island to have been included in the 
New England Union? Give reasons for your opinion. Define Sepa¬ 
ratist, Pilgrim, Puritan, dissenter. Write an account of the person 
in early New England history that you like best. In what ways was 
life in Virginia like that in New England? In what ways was it unlike? 

4. Did the Dutch pay a fair price for Manhattan Island ? Give 
reasons for your opinion. Describe the life of a Dutch trader; of a 
patroon. Describe the life of a rich planter in Maryland. 


TOPICS FOR STUDY 


v 


5. Write an account of Oliver Cromwell. Describe the effect of the 
Commonwealth on the different colonies. Why were the Navigation 
Acts not obeyed in the colonies ? Did the English have a just claim to 
New Netherland ? In what way was the Dutch colony a disadvantage 
to the English? How might it become dangerous to them? Why did 
there come to be two Carolinas instead of one? Why did the Hugue¬ 
nots settle in South Carolina instead of in New France? 

6. Write an account of Bacon. Was he a patriot or a rebel? Why 
did the Indians become hostile to the colonists ? Could conflicts be¬ 
tween the two races have been avoided ? Give reasons for your opinion. 

7. In what respects were the Quakers like the Puritans? In what 
respects were they unlike? Why did Penn purchase Delaware? Why 
was a water outlet more important to a colony than it is to a state now? 
Write a brief account of what the English accomplished in America 
during the three-quarters of a century beginning with 1607. What 
power did the English Parliament assume in the Revolution of 1688? 

8. Tell some European events of the seventeenth century which in¬ 
fluenced affairs in the American colonies. Make in your notebook a 
list of English sovereigns from 1584 to 1692. Tell some events of 
colonial history during the reign of each. What three nations had 
claims in America in 1700? What were they doing to make these good? 
What two nations had been deprived of territory during the century ? 
Give reasons why people came from Europe to the American colonies. 
Tell some things that the English learned from the Indians; some 
things that they got from them. Why did settlements follow the 
coast and rivers? Why did people of a certain religion make settle¬ 
ments ? What was the difference between an indented servant and a 
slave? Compare the life of slaves in Massachusetts, Virginia, and 
South Carolina. Were slavery and the slave trade regarded then as 
they are now? Give reasons. Write in your notebook a list of persons 
prominent in the colonial history of the seventeenth century according 
to the following plan : — 


Name 


Colony 


Important fact 


Exercises 

1. Write an account of the three crop plants obtained from the 
Indians by Ralegh’s colonists; illustrate the sketch with drawings. 
Write a story describing the fate of a member of the Lost Colony. 




VI 


TOPICS FOR STUDY 


2. Resolved: that the settlement of Jamestown was the most im¬ 
portant event in the early history of America. Write two letters pur¬ 
porting to be from a colonist, — one describing the Jamestown colony 
the year after its settlement; the other describing it eighteen years 
later. 

3. Resolved: that the Massachusetts Bay colony acted wisely in 
banishing Roger Williams. Write a letter purporting to be from one 
of the Pilgrims, describing the voyage of the Mayflower and the first 
winter at Plymouth. Dress dolls in garments like those worn by the 
Puritans. 

4. Resolved: that the Swedes had as just a claim to Delaware as the 
Dutch had to New York. Write a description of Maryland, purporting 
to be written by a New England trader. Write an account of a day 
spent in New Amsterdam. Draw pictures of Dutch children engaged 
in characteristic sports. 

5. Resolved: that the English were justified in seizing New Nether- 
land. Describe the industries carried on in a North Carolina pine 
forest. Write an account of rice and its cultivation in South Carolina; 
illustrate the sketch with pictures. 

6. Resolved: that Bacon’s Rebellion was, justifiable. Write an 
account of King Philip’s War, in the form of a diary by a Connecticut boy. 

7. Describe Penn’s treaty with the Indians, in a letter purporting to 
be from a Quaker colonist. Dress dolls in garments like those worn 
by the Quakers. 

8. Resolved: that it would have been easier to colonize America 
if it had not been inhabited by Indians. Write three letters describing 
a trip through the colonies, purporting to be from three fellow-trav¬ 
elers,— one a Puritan merchant, one a Dutch fur trader, and one a 
Maryland planter. Describe a day in a New England school; illus¬ 
trate the sketch with pictures of the schoolhouse, teacher, and pupils. 
Make drawings and collect pictures of colonial houses and furniture. 

Suggested Readings 

Contemporary Writings. — Hakluyt’s reasons for the English 
colonization of America; Barlowe’s account of his voyage to Virginia 
in 1584; Smith’s account of the founding of Virginia, from the True 
Relation; Hamor’s description of Pocahontas; Juet’s account of 
Hudson’s discovery of the Hudson River; Bradford’s account of why 
the Pilgrims left England and their life at Plymouth, in his History of 
Plymouth Plantation; Winthrop’s account of the Massachusetts Bay 


TOPICS FOR STUDY 


Vll 


colony, from his History of New England; Winthrop’s account of the 
founding of Connecticut; White’s description of Maryland in 1634; 
Van der Donck’s description of New Netherland; Hegeman’s account 
of a schoolmaster’s duties in New Netherland in 1661 ; Roger Williams’s 
letter in 1670 on toleration in Rhode Island; Penn’s account of the 
condition of his colony in 1683. 

Illustrative Literature. — “ Sir Humphrey Gilbert ” and Court¬ 
ship of Myles Standish by H. W. Longfellow ; “Mystery of Cro-a-tan ” 
by M. J. Preston ; “ Smith and Pocahontas” by W. G. Simms ; To Have 
and to Hold and Prisoners of Hope by Mary Johnston; “Landing 
of the Pilgrims” by Felicia Hemans; “First Proclamation of Myles 
Standish ” by M. J. Preston ; Grandfather's Chair by Nathaniel Haw¬ 
thorne ; Stories of the Old Dominion byj. E. Cooke; Knickerbocker's 
History of New York by Washington Irving. 

Picture List 

Marriage of Pocahontas and Rolfe by Brueckner; paintings and 
photographs of Dutch scenes, especially the pictures of Ruysdael, Potter, 
and Rembrandt; Departure of Pilgrims from Delft Haven by Cope; 
Landing of the Pilgrims by Lucy; Pilgrims going to Church, and other 
Pilgrim pictures by Bough ton; the Hidden Foe by Pierce; Priscilla 
Spinning by Barse; Penn making a Treaty with the Indians by West. 

CHAPTER III 
Geographical Studies 

Locate on the map all places mentioned in the text. 

1. Compare Canada and Louisiana as sites for colonies. Compare 
the geographical advantages of the French and the English colonies. 

2. Trace the line of French forts from the mouth of the St. Lawrence 
to the mouth of the Mississippi. 

3. Make a war map of North America in the French and Indian War, 
marking French and British victories in different-colored crayons. 
Draw a map of Quebec and the surrounding country, to illustrate the 
siege of the city. Mark on the map the possessions of France, Spain, 
and Great Britain at the beginning of the war; at the end. 

Suggestive Questions 

1. What influence did the enmity of the Five Nations to the French 
have on colonization ? Contrast Spanish, French, and English treat- 


Vlll 


TOPICS FOR STUDY 


ment of the Indians. Tell about the chief explorers connected with the 
Mississippi River. Why was the ownership of Acadia important to New 
England ? 

2. Name two colonies to which women were sent as wives for 
colonists. Describe the treatment of poor debtors in the eighteenth 
century. What were the objects of the Georgia colony ? Write the 
names of the thirteen British colonies, in the order of their settle¬ 
ment; in the order of their position on the coast, from north to south. In 
honor of what royal persons were the six southern colonies named ? 
Which colonies had English names? Which had Indian names? 
Explain the three forms of government, — royal, proprietary, and 
charter. Make in your notebook a list of the thirteen original colonies 
according to this model: — 


Colony 

When settled 

Where 

By whom 

Form of government 


Why were the British willing to exchange Louisburg for Madras ? 
Why were the colonists opposed to the exchange ? 

3. Compare the position and strength of the French and the British 
at the beginning of the French and Indian War. Why did the British 
claim the Ohio Valley ? Why did the French claim it ? Why was its 
possession important to each ? Why did not the French government 
send aid to Montcalm ? Compare Montcalm and Wolfe. Write an 
account of Pitt. What great question was settled by the French and 
Indian War ? Why did some people think the victory might prove a 
disadvantage to the British ? Write a brief sketch of the French in the 
New World, from the exploration of Verrazano to the end of the French 
and Indian War. 


Exercises 

1. Resolved: that Canada was a more desirable region for a French 
colony than was Louisiana. Give an account, purporting to be from an 
English captive, of an Indian raid on a New England town. Describe 
the capture of a merchant ship by Blackbeard. 

2. Describe the cultivation of rice and of indigo ; illustrate the sketch 
with drawings. 

3. Resolved: that the British colonies were justifiable in removing 
the Acadians. Write two letters, one from an English soldier, the 
other from a French woman, each describing the capture of Quebec. 






TOPICS FOR STUDY 


IX 


Suggested Readings 

Contemporary Writings. — Champlain’s account of his adventures 
on Lake Champlain in 1609; Castelman’s description of Philadelphia 
in 1710, from The Voyage, Shipwreck , and Miraculous Escape of 
Richard Castelman , Gen.] Eliza Lucas’s account of South Carolina, 
from her Journal and Letters] Oglethorpe’s account of the plan of 
Georgia, from his Brief Account of the Establishment of the Colony 
of Georgia; Captain Knox’s account of the fall of Quebec from his 
Historical Journal] Washington’s Journal describing his Journey to 
the Ohio. 

Illustrative Literature. — Story of Tonty by Mrs. M. H. Cather- 
wood ; “ Ballad of the French Fleet” and Evangeline by H. W. Long¬ 
fellow ; Yemassee by W. G. Simms ; Virginians by W. M. Thackeray; 
Last of the Mohicans by J. F. Cooper; Seats of the Mighty by Gilbert 
Parker; Grandfather's Chair by Nathaniel Hawthorne; Stories of the 
Old Dominion by J. E. Cooke; Struggle for a Continent by Francis 
Parkman. 

Picture List 

Colonial Days by Henry; Evangeline by Faed, by Douglass, and 
by Taylor; Franklin and Braddock by James ; Death of Montgomery 
by Trumbull; Death of Wolfe by Trumbull and by West. 

CHAPTER IV 
Geographical Studies 

Locate on the map all places mentioned in the text. 

1. Trace the route followed by pioneers, from Pennsylvania to the 
Ohio country ; from Virginia to Kentucky ; from North Carolina to 
Tennessee. 

2. Draw a map of Boston to illustrate the battle of Bunker Hill. 

3. Explain the geographical importance of New York to the British. 

4. Trace the line of march planned for the British campaign of 1777. 
Trace the line of march followed. Draw a map to illustrate the battles 
of Saratoga. Trace the course of Clark’s expedition down the Ohio 
to Kaskaskia ; from Kaskaskia to Vincennes. 

5. Draw a map to illustrate Greene’s campaign in the Carolinas. 
Explain how Greene made the rivers an advantage to his army. Tell 
how they might have been a disadvantage. 


X 


TOPICS FOR STUDY 


6. Make a map of the United States in the War of the Revolution, 
marking British and American victories with different-colored crayons. 
Mark the territory of the United States, Great Britain, and Spain at 
the close of the Revolution. Trace the ‘back lands,’ showing the 
claims of each state. 

Suggestive Questions 

1. Explain the chief causes of colonial discontent. Ought the 
colonists to have shared the expenses of the French and Indian War ? 
Give reasons for your opinion. Why is a stamp tax an easy tax to 
collect ? Why did the colonists resent the Stamp Act ? Compare 
Samuel Adams and Patrick Henry, Tell about some famous English¬ 
men who sympathized with the colonists. Why were the colonists less 
dependent on the home government after the French and Indian War 
than before it ? Name ten words that tell traits of King George III.’s 
character and mention an incident in proof of each. Why did the 
other colonies take the part of Massachusetts ? Describe the move¬ 
ment to the West. Write a sketch of Daniel Boone. 

2. Compare the First and the Second Continental Congress. Com¬ 
pare the views of the Whigs and the Tories. Why did the colonists 
resent the sending of Hessians more than of British soldiers ? Give 
an account of the battle of Bunker Hill. Describe the movements of 
the British troops during 1775; of the Continental troops. In what 
contest had the colonists been trained in fighting ? What did the 
British call the colonial war ? What is the difference between a re¬ 
bellion and a revolution ? 

3. Compare land and naval warfare during the War of the Revo¬ 
lution. Give reasons why the British wished to occupy New York. 
Write a one-page sketch of the Declaration of Independence, giving its 
main parts. What rights does it claim for all ? Why are these rights 
called “ inalienable ” ? What solemn promise did the signers of the 
Declaration of Independence make ? What advantages did the Ameri¬ 
cans have in the War of the Revolution ? What disadvantages ? 

4. Explain the plan of the British campaign of 1777. Describe the 
steps taken to carry it out and their results. How did the flag of 1777 
differ from that of to-day ? Tell why the flag has been changed. Give 
a full account of the battles of Saratoga and their results. Which was 
more trying to patriot courage, — a defeat such as Brandywine or a 
winter of inaction like that at Valley Forge ? Give reasons for your 
opinion. Name five foreigners who aided the Americans, giving a 
brief account of the services of each. Tell about the part that Indians 


TOPICS FOR STUDY 


xi 


took in the Revolution. Explain how Clark was able with so small a . 
force to make such extensive conquests. Write a sketch of Clark. 

5. Describe the two British plans of conquering the colonies. Tell 
the advantages and disadvantages of each. Which plan do you think 
the better ? Give reasons for your opinion. Write a sketch of John 
Paul Jones. Compare the way in which Schuyler and Arnold received 
unjust treatment. Give an account of Continental paper money, relat¬ 
ing incidents to show its lack of value. Why was the Continental 
currency less'valuable in 1780 than in 1778 ? Why does the value of a 
paper dollar vary more than that of a gold one ? Contrast the charac¬ 
ters and military careers of Greene and Gates. 

6. What were the advantages and disadvantages of Cornwallis’s 
position at Yorktown ? Was Cornwallis wise in occupying this po¬ 
sition ? Give reasons for your opinion. Compare the surrenders at 
Saratoga and Yorktown. Compare Burgoyne and Cornwallis. Write 
an account of the three men who, in your view, did most to make good 
the Declaration of Independence. Give instances to prove that a 
defeat may be as valuable as a victory. Name and describe the most 
important battles of the Revolution. Tell some battles in which Wash¬ 
ington took part; Gates; Greene; Arnold. Explain the following 
terms, — militia, regulars, privateer, campaign, evacuate, siege, advance 
guard, earthworks, drawn battle, volunteer, recruit, winter quarters, 
partisan bands, spy. What was the basis of the claim of each colony 
to ‘ back lands ’ ? Which colonies had no western claims ? 

Exercises 

1. Resolved: that Great Britain had a right to require the colonies 
to help pay the expenses of the French and Indian War. Write a 
dialogue between a New England merchant and a Carolina planter, 
comparing their burdens under the Trade and Navigation Acts. 

2. Resolved: that the Boston Tea Party was a justifiable destruc¬ 
tion of private property. Write an account, in the person of a British 
soldier, of the expedition from Boston to Concord. Describe the 
journey of a Regulator family from North Carolina to Tennessee and 
its life in the new country. Write a dialogue between a Whig and 
a Tory, each explaining and defending his course. Draw pictures of 
British and Colonial soldiers. 

3. Write a sketch, comparing our country on July 4, 1776, with it 
on the last Fourth of July. Illustrate the sketch with pictures of the 
costumes, furniture, and homes of both periods. 


xii 


TOPICS FOR STUDY 


4. Resolved: that the French alliance was necessary to the success 
of the colonists. Write a letter, purporting to be from a British soldier 
under Burgoyne, describing his campaign. Write an account of the 
winter at Valley Forge, in the form of a journal by a Continental 
soldier. Write an account of the territory secured by Clark’s cam¬ 
paign; illustrate the sketch with pictures of the country. 

5. Resolved: that partisan lighting was a fair method of carrying 
on war. Give an account, purporting to be. from a Continental sailor, 
of the fight between the Bon Homme Richard and the Serapis. Write 
an account of Continental money; illustrate the sketch with drawings 
of coins and paper money used during the Revolution. 

6. Resolved: that a republic is the best form of government. In 
the form of a journal written by a girl during the Revolution, tell how 
she aided the patriot cause. Make as full a collection as you can of 
pictures illustrating American life from the founding of Jamestown to 
the winning of independence. 

Suggested Readings 

Contemporary Writings. — Patrick Henry’s speech against the 
Stamp Act and his speech in the Convention of 1775 ; Pitt’s Protest 
against the Taxation of the Colonies; Burke’s speech urging Concili¬ 
ation with the Colonies; Declaration of Independence; Dr. Waldo’s 
description of camp life at Valley Forge in his Journal ; account of 
the fight with the Serapis , in Paul Jones’s Life and Correspondence; 
Greene’s account of affairs in the South in his Life and Correspondence 
by Reed ; Cornwallis’s letter to Clinton about the surrender at York- 
town ; Clark’s account of his campaign in the Illinois country ; Filson’s 
description of Boone’s adventures in The Discovery , Settlemetit , and 
Present State of Keniucke; Autobiography of Benjamin Frankiin. 

Illustrative Literature. — “ Paul Revere’s Ride ” by H. W. Long¬ 
fellow ; ‘‘Lexington” from Psalm of the West by Sidney Lanier; “Con¬ 
cord Hymn” by R. W. Emerson; “The Rising” from Wagoner of the 
Alleghenies by T. B. Read ; “ Grandmother’s Story of the Battle of Bunker 
Hill” by O. W. Holmes ; oration at the laying of the cornerstone of the 
Bunker Hill monument by Daniel Webster; “ Washington ” from Under 
the Old Elm , and “ Ode for the Fourth of July, 1876” by J. R. Lowell; 
“ Boasting of Sir Peter Parker ” by Clinton Scollard ; “ Ballad of Sweet 
P ” by V. W. Cloud; “ Little Black-eyed Rebel ” by Will Carleton ; 
“Betty Zane” by T. D. English; “American Flag” by J. R. Drake; 
Hugh Wynne by Weir Mitchell; “ Song of Marion’s Men ” by W. C. 


TOPICS FOR STUDY 


xm 


Bryant; Horse-Shoe Robinson by J. P. Kennedy; Partisan by W. G. 
Simms; “Eutaw Springs 11 by Philip Freneau,; Pilot and Spy by J. F. 
Cooper; Richard Carvel and Crossing by W. Churchill; “ England and 
America in 1782” by Alfred Tennyson; Grandfather's Chair by 
Nathaniel Hawthorne; Stories of the Old Dominion by J E. Cooke. 

Picture List 

Call to Arms by F. O. C. Darley; Arousing the Minutemen by 
Dunsmore ; statue of a Minuteman by Daniel French ; Battle of Bunker 
Hill and other Revolutionary pictures by Trumbull; All’s Well by 
Winslow Homer; statue of Nathan Hale by Frederick MacMonies; 
Mrs. Murray receiving the British Officers by Brownscombe; Washington 
crossing the Delaware by Leutze; Washington, at Trenton by Faed; 
Betsy Ross making the Flag by E. M. Hallowed; Washington and 
Lafayette at Valley Forge by Dunsmore; Washington at the Battle of 
Monmouth, and Wyoming Massacre by F. O. C. Darley; Arnold and 
Andre by Blauvelt; Mrs. Steele and General Greene by Chappel; 
American Peace Commissioners in 1782, from the unfinished painting 
by West; Washington’s Farewell to his Officers at Whitehall by Fleury ; 
Washington and Lafayette at Mount Vernon by Rossiter and Mignon ; 
Washington and his Mother by Fournier; Peace Ball at Yorktown by 
Brownscombe. 


CHAPTER V 
Geographical Studies 

Locate on the map all places mentioned in the text. 

4. Make an industrial map of the American states at the end of the 
eighteenth century. Name the six cities in the states, and tell the 
natural advantages of the location of each. Name and locate the first 
four colleges in the United States. 

5. Trace the route of Lewis and Clark’s expedition. 

6. To prove that it was 1 a border war,’ mark on a map of the United 
States the chief points of attack in the War of 1812. Draw a map to 
illustrate the campaigns against Canada. Draw a map to illustrate the 
battle of New Orleans. 

7. Mark on the map the three lines between free and slave regions, — 
Mason and Dixon’s line, the Ohio River, the line of the Missouri Com¬ 
promise. What natural advantages has New England for manufactures ? 


XIV 


TOPICS FOR STUDY 


8. Mark on the map the region which the Erie Canal opened to the 
market of New York City. 

n. Locate on the map the so-called ‘Great American Desert.’ Lo¬ 
cate the Oregon Country and tell its natural resources. 

12. Locate on the map the territory in dispute between Mexico and 
Texas. Indicate the territory ceded by Mexico to the United States at 
the end of the war. 

15. Mark on a map of the United States its chief deposits of gold, 
silver, lead, coal, copper, iron, petroleum, natural gas. 

Suggestive Questions 

1. What were the defects of the Articles of Confederation? Were 
these more noticeable in times of war or of peace? Give reasons. 
Describe some influential members of the Convention of 1787. Give a 
brief, clear account of the plan of government drawn up. Tell some 
compromises necessary to form the Constitution. Was it wise and right 
to make these compromises? Give reasons for your opinion. What 
powers were given the general government by the Constitution of 1787 
which it did not have under the Articles of Confederation? Why did 
the general government need to have power to lay taxes? Is there any 
one who does not pay taxes in some way? Explain. Why was the 
Constitution submitted for adoption to the votes of the states instead of 
the people? Give some arguments in favor of a state’s agreeing to the 
Constitution; some arguments against it. 

2. What is a direct tax? an indirect tax? To which are people most 
likely to object? Why? Give reasons in favor of the doctrine of implied 
powers; give reasons against it. Compare the American Revolution 
with the French Revolution. What reasons were there why France 
should expect aid from America? What reasons were there why 
America should not give aid? Tell why it is fair to make certain articles 
‘contraband of war.’ Ought food to be considered contraband? Give 
reasons. Describe the cotton gin and tell how it affected the life of the 
South. Why were the western states more democratic than the eastern 
ones? Write a sketch of Washington’s life. 

3. If Congress passes an unjust or unconstitutional law, ought a state 
to nullify it? Give reasons for your opinion. Write a sketch of John 
Adams’s life. 

4. Name instances during the eighteenth century when European 
events influenced American affairs; instances when American events 
influenced European affairs. Give an account of the chief labor-saving 


TOPICS FOR STUDY 


xv 


inventions of the eighteenth century. Describe the education of an 
American boy soon after the Revolution ; of an American girl. Describe 
religious conditions at the end of the eighteenth century. Compare 
them with those of the seventeenth century. 

5. Compare Chief Justice Marshall and President Jefferson. Ought 
Jefferson to have removed Federalist office-holders? Give reasons for 
your opinion. Give an account of the Louisiana Purchase. Did the 
Constitution give the general government power to make such a pur¬ 
chase? Was the purchase a wise or an unwise one? Why? Was the 
attitude of Federalists and of Democratic-Republicans toward the Louisi¬ 
ana Purchase consistent with their political principles? Explain. Give 
an account of Lewis and Clark’s expedition. Why did America refuse 
bribes to France and pay bribes to the pirate states? Give an account 
of Fulton’s invention of the steamboat. Write a sketch of Jefferson’s life. 

6. Why did the early presidents make such efforts to avoid war? 
Tell the causes of the War of 1812. Why did the Americans win so 
many sea victories? Give an account of some ocean duels between 
British and American ships. Describe the battle of New Orleans. 
Mention one unjustifiable act committed on each side during the war. 
What were the results of the War of 1812? Describe the effect of 
the War of 1812 and the Embargo Act on American manufactures. 
Explain free trade, tariff for revenue only, and a protective tariff. Which 
do you think best of the three? Why? Write a sketch of Madison’s life. 

7. Why is Monroe’s term called the ‘ Era of Good Feeling’ ? What 
sectional question came forward about this time? Compare the life of 
pioneers in Indiana with that of the Jamestown colonists. Describe 
the system of agriculture a century ago. What effect did this system 
have on the settlement of the West? Give some arguments in favor of 
the Missouri Compromise ; some against it. Did the War of 1812 make 
European nations more or less disposed to respect the Monroe Doc¬ 
trine? Give reasons. Write an account of three famous authors who 
lived in New York. Write a sketch of Monroe’s life. 

8. Describe and explain two ways in which transit was improved. 
Why is it cheaper to haul freight by canals than by natural streams? 
From what two states did the first six presidents come ? What two 
presidents during the first half century served only one term? Write a 
sketch of John Quincy Adams’s life. 

9. Compare the early life of John Quincy Adams with that of An¬ 
drew Jackson. In what respects was each fitted for the presidency ? On 
the whole, which of the two was the better fitted for the position? 


XVI 


TOPICS FOR STUDY 


Give reasons for your opinion. Compare dress and manners in the 
times of Jackson and of Washington. What were some of the bad 
effects of the Spoils System ? Did it have any good effects ? If so, what ? 
In what way do Indians usually own land? Compare it with our 
method of ownership. As a rule, which thought the general govern¬ 
ment was stronger, the original states or the states formed from terri¬ 
tories? Why? How does a president veto a bill? Write a sketch of 
Jackson’s life. 

10. Describe the Independent Treasury plan. What were its ad¬ 
vantages? Write a sketch of Van Buren’s life. 

11. Give a sketch of Harrison’s life. Having been elected by the 
Whigs, ought Tyler to have aided them to carry out their plans, contrary 
to his own views ? Give reasons for your opinion. Give reasons for the 
annexation of Texas by the United States; reasons against it. De¬ 
scribe the most important inventions of the first half of the nineteenth 
century. Describe some of the chief reforms in laws and social condi¬ 
tions. Name some causes and some results of the increased immigra¬ 
tion of this period. Write a sketch of Tyler’s life. 

12. Tell the direct and the indirect causes of the War with Mexico. 
Give an account of the three American campaigns against Mexico. 
Why were the Americans so successful? Name some officers who 
fought in this war and in the War of Secession. What troublesome 
question was brought up by the acquisition of new territory? Write a 
sketch of Polk’s life. 

13. Explain how natural causes and self-interest made the northern 
states free ; the southern states slave. In what respect did the ‘ personal 
liberty’ laws resemble the South Carolina Ordinance of Nullification? 
Write a sketch of Taylor’s life. As the old leaders died, what kind of 
men took their places ? Describe the bright side of slavery ; the dark 
side. Write a sketch of Fillmore’s life. 

14. What was the main motive in forming the Republican party? 
Write a sketch of Pierce’s life. 

15. Compare the effect of the Dred Scott decision on the North with 
that of John Brown’s Raid on the South. How did public lands add 
to the prosperity of the Union? How did they cause discord? Did 
the Constitution deny a state’s right to withdraw from the Union? 
Did it affirm it? Name some cases in which secession had been as¬ 
serted as a right. Why did Compromise measures succeed in 1820, in 
1834, and in 1850, and fail in i860? Tell the direct and the indirect 
causes of the secession of the Cotton States. 




TOPICS FOR STUDY 


XVII 


Exercises 

1. Resolved: that the president ought to be elected by the direct 
vote of the people. Make a list of the chief duties of each of the three 
departments of the government. 

2. Resolved: that Washington’s services to his country were greater 
as statesman than as general. Write a dialogue between two New 
York merchants, one a Federalist, the other a Democratic-Republican, 
giving reasons for their political opinions. Give an account of the 
voyage of a New England slave-trading vessel. Describe slave life on 
a rice plantation. 

3. Resolved: that a state had a right to nullify a law that was unfair 
to it. 

4. Give an account of a settler’s journey from his home on the Ohio 
River to New Orleans, to carry his hogs to market. Collect and com¬ 
pare pictures by West, Copley, and Stuart. Read one American book 
of the eighteenth century and write an account of it. Have a Martha 
Washington tea party, reproducing dress and manners of the Revolu¬ 
tionary period as exactly as you can. Make a collection of pictures 
illustrating the homes, furniture, dress, and domestic life of the United 
States in the eighteenth century. 

5. Resolved: that the Embargo Act was beneficial to the American 
people. In the person of a passenger on the Clermont , write an account 
of the trial trip from New York to Albany. Read Lewis’s and Clark’s 
journals, and give, in the form of a journal by one of the party, an 
account of the chief events in the journey ; illustrate the account with 
pictures and photographs of the country explored. 

6. Resolved: that a protective tariff is beneficial to the country at 
large. Write a letter, purporting to be from an American sailor, describ¬ 
ing the voyages and victories of ‘ Old Ironsides.’ Write an account, 
in the person of a British drummer boy, of the battle of New Orleans. 
Write the story of cotton from the time its seed was planted till its fiber 
was made into a garment; illustrate the story with pictures of the 
cotton plant and of the tools and machinery used in the processes of 
making it into cloth. 

7. Resolved: that the United States ought strictly to regard the 
Monroe Doctrine. Write a description, from the standpoint of a per¬ 
son at Cumberland Gap, of pioneers passing along the Cumberland 
Road in one day. Read Thanatopsis , To a Waterfowl , and Death of 
the Flowers; Rip Van Winkle and Legend of Sleepy Hollow; Last of 
the Mohicans. 


XV111 


TOPICS FOR STUDY 


8. Resolved: that the invention of the steam car was more beneficial 
to America than the invention of the steamboat. 

9. Resolved: that a machine which does the work of ten men is an 
advantage to the laboring classes. Write the speech of an Indian 
ordered to leave his home in the East for a reservation in the West. 
Write a dialogue between a farmer and his wife as to the relative ad¬ 
vantages of the reaping machine and the sewing machine. Draw a pic¬ 
ture of a sickle; of a reaping machine ; of a flail; of a threshing machine. 

10. Resolved: that during a panic city people suffer more than 
country people. 

11. Write an account, purporting to be from a Texas settler, of the 
Texan War for Independence. Write a dialogue of immigrants on 
shipboard, giving their reasons for coming to America. 

12. Resolved: that the War with Mexico was unjustifiable. Write a 
description of the march from Vera Cruz to the city of Mexico, pur¬ 
porting to be by an American soldier who took part in it ; illustrate 
the story with pictures of the country. 

13. Resolved: that the Fugitive Slave Law ought to have been en¬ 
forced. Describe, in the person of a Forty-Niner, the journey from 
Pennsylvania to California and life in a mining camp. 

14. Resolved: that it was right to let territories decide for them¬ 
selves the question of slavery. 

15. Resolved: that a citizen’s first duty was to his state. Describe 
the efforts to lay the Atlantic cable ; illustrate the sketch with drawings. 
Write an account of the ‘golden age’ of American literature. Collect 
pictures of American authors of the middle of the nineteenth century. 
Read some of these poems and books: Hiawatha , Evangeline , and 
some of Longfellow’s shorter poems ; Snow-Bound, , Maud Muller , and 
In School Days; Vision of Sir Launfal; Concord Hymn and The 
Mountain and the Squirrel; Tanglewood Tales and Twice-told Tales; 
The Raven , Annabel Lee, and The Gold Bug; selections from Ban¬ 
croft’s, Motley’s, Prescott’s, and Parkman’s histories; Song of the Chat¬ 
tahoochee; Battle of King's Mountain; Spring, and The Cotton Boll. 

Suggested Readings 

Contemporary Writings. —The Constitution of the United States; 
Washington’s Farewell Address; Webster-Hayne Debate; Monroe’s 
message in 1823 announcing the Monroe Doctrine; Calhoun’s speech 
on the Slavery Question, March 4, 1850; Webster’s Seventh of March 
speech, in 1850, on the Constitution and the Union; Clay’s speech in 


TOPICS FOR STUDY 


xix 


favor of Compromise, July 22, 1850; Jefferson Davis’s speech on with¬ 
drawing from the Senate in 1861. 

Illustrative Literature. — “ Hail Columbia” by Joseph Hopkin- 
son ; Little Jarvis by M. E. Seawell; “ Star-Spangled Banner” by F. S. 
Key; “Old Ironsides” by O. W. Holmes; “First Fruits in 1812” by 
Wallace Rice ; “ Battle of New Orleans ” by T. D. English ; Pioneers and 
Prairie by J. F. Cooper; “ Pioneers ” by Walt Whitman ; Huckleberry 
Finn by ‘Mark Twain’; Man without a Country by E. E. Hale; 
“ Hunter of the Prairies ” by W. C. Bryant; Two Years before the Mast 
by R. H. Dana ; “ Death of Jefferson ” by H. Butterworth ; Georgia Scenes 
by A. B. Longstreet; Old Times in Middle Georgia by R. M. Johnston ; 
Uncle Remus stories by J. C. Harris ; “ Defense of the Alamo ” by 
Joaquin Miller ; Tales of the Argonauts by Bret Harte ;* Biglow Papers, 
First Part , by J. R. Lowell; “ Buena Vista ” by Albert Pike ; “ Angels of 
Buena Vista ” by J. G. Whittier; “ Bivouac of the Dead ” by Theodore 
O’Hara; “How Cyrus laid the Cable” by J. G. Saxe; “Arsenal at 
Springfield ” by H. W. Longfellow. 

Picture List 

Washington portraits and statues ; pictures of colonial houses, furni¬ 
ture, and dress ; paintings by West, Stuart, and Copley ; Battle of New 
Orleans and Emigrants crossing the Plains by F. O. C. Darley; pic¬ 
tures of American authors of the middle of the nineteenth century and 
of their homes ; Travel in the South in the ’30’s by Henry. 

CHAPTER VI 
Geographical Studies 

Locate on the map all places mentioned in the text. 

1. Trace on the map the boundary between the Union and the Con¬ 
federacy at the beginning of the war. Where and how did the Con¬ 
federacy have the advantage? the Union? 

2. Locate on the map the course planned for the Federal campaigns 
of the second year. Trace the routes followed by the Federal armies 
and fleets in the West. Describe the country between Richmond and 
Washington. Describe the situations of Vicksburg and Port Hudson. 
Compare the advantages and disadvantages of the direct and the pen¬ 
insular route from Washington to Richmond. Draw a map of the 
Shenandoah Valley, to illustrate Jackson’s valley campaign. 

3. Draw a map of Gettysburg and the surrounding country, to illus¬ 
trate the battle of Gettysburg. 


XX 


TOPICS FOR STUDY 


4. Draw a map of the region called the Wilderness, and make a list 
of the battles fought there. Why were there in each campaign along 
this route battles at or near the same place ? Draw a map of the country 
around Richmond and Petersburg, to illustrate the positions of the two 
armies during the siege. Trace Sherman’s line of march from Chatta¬ 
nooga to Atlanta. 

5. Trace Sherman’s line of march from Atlanta to Savannah; from 
Savannah to Petersburg. Compare the country that he crossed with 
that between Washington and Richmond. Trace the line of Lee’s 
retreat from Petersburg to Appomattox Courthouse. 


Suggestive Questions 

1. What was the direct cause of the War of Secession ? Name 
some indirect causes. Explain how the interests of the states were 
at first like, then unlike, then conflicting. Which side do you think 
began the War of Secession ? Give reasons for your opinion. To which 
government did Fort Sumter belong if a state had a right to secede ? 
To which, if it did not have a right to secede ? Name some advantages 
that each side had in the contest; some disadvantages. What right 
for .which the Americans contended in the War of 1812 was violated by 
the seizure of Mason and Slidell? 

2. Describe the three Federal plans for the second year. Explain 
the reason of each. Explain the effect of the battle between the 
Monitor and the Merrimac on the naval warfare of the world. 
As Lee loved the Union, why did he leave the army of the United 
States and join the Virginia army ? Why is Jackson’s campaign in the 
Shenandoah Valley studied and admired ? Compare Generals Lee and 
Jackson. In what ways did the military movements of Lee and Jackson 
differ from those of McClellan ? of Pope ? Would McClellan have 
fought a battle at Fredericksburg ? Give reasons for your opinion. 
Explain the following terms: gunboat, unconditional surrender, line of 
defense, civilians, divisions, cavalry, arsenal. 

3. On what grounds was Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation 
justifiable ? Describe prison life on both sides. Why did the Con¬ 
federates oppose the use of negro troops and refuse to exchange negro 
prisoners? Was Congress justifiable in dividing the state of Virginia? 
Give reasons for your opinion. Write a sketch of General Stonewall 
Jackson’s life. Describe the battle of Gettysburg. Why is Gettysburg 
regarded as the turning point of the war? Why was the siege of Vicks- 


TOPICS FOR STUDY 


xxi 


burg so prolonged ? Tell about the four great Federal generals who 
took part in the fighting around Chattanooga. 

4. Why were there so few changes in the Federal army in the West ? 
Why were there so many in the East ? Compare Grant’s plan of Vir¬ 
ginia campaign with McClellan’s. Which plan do you think the better ? 
Why ? Compare Generals Grant and Lee. Why did Grant lay siege 
to Petersburg instead of trying to take it by storm ? What are the 
rules of civilized warfare with regard to private property ? Are these 
always respected ? Name Federal and Confederate generals who re¬ 
garded them. Name one Confederate and some Federals who disre¬ 
garded them. Write an account of Farragut’s life. Why were there 
so few sea fights in the War of Secession ? How did the victories of 
Sherman and Farragut affect Lee’s army ? 

5. What two questions did the war settle forever ? Give an account 
of slavery in the United States, from its introduction in the Jamestown 
colony to its abolition at the end of the War of Secession. Name five 
great Federal generals; five great Confederates. Name the chief battles 
in which Lee fought; Grant; Jackson ; Thomas; Joseph E. Johnston; 
Sherman. Write a sketch of Lincoln’s life. Why was his death a 
calamity to the South ? Describe the conduct of the slaves during the 
war. Make a list of ways in which the South suffered more from the 
war than did the North. Why is paper money now worth more than 
it was in 1865 ? 

Exercises 

1. Resolved : that the United States began the War of Secession by 
attempting to send reenforcements to Fort Sumter. Write a dialogue 
between two brothers in Kentucky, the one in the Union army, the other 
in the Confederate service, each explaining and defending his course. 
Draw pictures of Confederate and Federal soldiers in uniform. 

2. Resolved: that the peninsular route was preferable to the direct 

route to Richmond. Describe in the person of an eyewitness the 

ficrht between the Merrimac and the Monitor. Describe a trip on a 
© 

blockade runner between Wilmington and Havana. Write in journal 
form an account of a girl’s life on a southern plantation during the war. 

3. Resolved: that the Federal government ought to have agreed to 
the exchange of prisoners. Write two accounts of the battle of Gettys¬ 
burg, — one purporting to be from a Pennsylvania farmer, the other 
from a Confederate drummer boy. Write a letter from a cave dweller 
at Vicksburg, giving an account of the siege of the city. 

4. Resolved: that Sheridan was justifiable in laying waste the Shenan- 


XXII 


TOPICS FOR STUDY 


doah Valley. Write a letter from a Federal soldier, describing camp life 
during the siege of Petersburg. Describe life in the Confederate camp. 

5. Give an account of the part taken in the War of Secession by 
soldiers from your community. Collect portraits of the chief Union 
and Confederate officers. Write a sketch of Confederate money, ex¬ 
plaining the decrease of its purchasing value ; illustrate the sketch with 
drawings of notes. 

Suggested Readings 

Lincoln’s two inaugural addresses and his Gettysburg address; 
Artemus Ward: His Book by C. F. Browne; “ Our Country’s Call ” 
by W. C. Bryant; “A Cry to Arms” by Henry Timrod; “Dixie”; 
“Battle Hymn of the Republic” by Julia Ward Howe; “Maryland, my 
Maryland” by J. R. Randall; “Brave at Home” and “Sheridan’s 
Ride” by T. B. Read; “Picket Guard” by E. L. Beers; “How are 
you, Sanitary?” by Bret Harte; Hospital Sketches by L. M. Alcott; 
“Stonewall Jackson’s Way” by J. W. Palmer; “Little Giffen of 
Tennessee” by F. O. Ticknor; “Dirge for a Soldier” and “Before 
Vicksburg” by G. H. Boker; “Boston Hymn” by R. W. Emerson; 
“John Burns of Gettysburg” and “Reveille” by Bret Harte; “High 
Tide at Gettysburg” by W. H. Thompson; “Kentucky Belle” by 
C. F. Woolson; “Ballad of Chickamauga” by Maurice Thompson; 
On the Plantation by J. C. Harris; Among the Camps and Two Little 
Confederates by T. N. Page; Long Roll and Cease Firing by Mary 
Johnston ; “ O Captain, my Captain ! ” by Walt Whitman ; “ Conquered 
Banner” and “ Sword of Lee ” by Abram Ryan ; “ Blue and the Gray ” 
by F. M. Finch. 

Picture List 

Statute of Lincoln by Augustus St. Gaudens; Massachusetts Troops 
marching through Baltimore by F. O. C. Darley; In Hampton Roads 
by Zogbaum ; statue of General Thomas by J. Q. A. Ward ; Sherman’s 
March to the Sea by F. O. C. Darley ; statue of Lee by E. M. Valentine ; 
Virginia Mourning her Dead and statues of Jackson by Sir Moses 
Ezekiel; Photographic History of the Civil War (Brady photographs) ; 
other pictures of generals and scenes of the War of Secession. 

CHAPTER VII 
Geographical Studies 

Locate on the map all places mentioned in the text. 

2. Trace the course of the first railway across the continent; the 
second ; the third. In what ways was the site of Chicago advantageous 
for a great city ? 


TOPICS FOR STUDY xxiii 

3. Draw a diagram of Eads's jetties. Explain their effect on the city 
of New Orleans. 

4. Trace on the map of the United States the divisions of standard 
time. In what division is your home ? Explain the cause of the dif¬ 
ferences in time, as one travels from east to west. 

6. Locate on the map the six states admitted during Harrison’s 
presidency. Name some geographical advantages of each. 

8 . Draw a map of Manila Bay, to illustrate the battle of Manila. 
Draw a map of Santiago de Cuba, and the surrounding country, to il¬ 
lustrate the movements of Cervera’s fleet and the battles of El Caney 
and San Juan Hill. Give reasons why the annexation of the Hawaiian 
Islands and the possession of Porto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines were 
desirable for the United States ; reasons why they were undesirable. 

9. Draw two maps of the United States, — one in 1800, one in 1900, 
— to illustrate acquirements of territory. 

10. Mark on the map the headwaters of the chief rivers of the United 
States. Draw a map of the Panama Canal. Describe the geographical 
conditions of the Canal Zone. 

11. Mark on a map of the United States the earthquake belt. Make 
a map of your state, marking in black the counties where liquor is sold. 

Suggestive Questions 

1. What reasons were there for a closer union between the North 
and the South after the war than before ? What sources of discord 
were there ? How can a bill be made law, in spite of the president’s 
veto ? State reasons for giving the suffrage to the freedmen; state 
reasons against it. Why did southerners say that it was unjust to call a 
secessionist a ‘ rebel ’ and ‘ traitor ’ ? Why do they think that it would 
be right now to call any one who opposed the general government a 
‘rebel’ ? Why did the United States object to the French occupation 
of Mexico ? How did the Monroe Doctrine apply to this case ? Write 
an account of Andrew Johnson’s life. 

2. Did the South approve the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amend¬ 
ments ? Why did it agree to them ? Give an account of General 
Lee’s life after the war. In what way was the negro race injured by re¬ 
construction rule ? Compare the effect of railroads on the settlement 
of the western states with the effect of rivers on the settlement of the 
eastern states. Tell some good results of the Ku Klux Klan ; some evil 
results. Give an account of the public scandals that came to light 
while Grant was president. Why are affairs demoralized by war ? 


XXIV 


TOPICS FOR STUDY 


Name the chief causes of demoralization after the War of Secession. 
What is the 11 solid South’ ? Why has it remained unbroken ? De¬ 
scribe the anti-liquor movement. Compare the condition of the United 
States in 1776 with that in 1876. What was the chief cause, from 
colonial days to the present time, of Indian wars ? Write an account 
of Grant’s life. 

3. Tell in what way workmen have a right to carry on a strike. 
Tell some unjustifiable things that are sometimes done during a strike. 
For what purposes is it fair for capitalists to form business combina¬ 
tions ? In what ways do trusts and corporations misuse their power ? 
Name some advantages of labor unions; some disadvantages. What 
change did the resuming of specie payment make in the value of paper 
money? Why, when the face value is the same, do people usually 
prefer paper money to coin? Was slave or free labor better for the 
South? State facts in proof of your answer. Write an account of 
Hayes’s life. 

4. Ought a president to remove any officials for political reasons ? 
If so, which? Why? Write an account of Garfield’s life. Name as 
many ways as you can in which the force of electricity is utilized. 
Write an account of Arthur’s life. 

5. Can the general government regulate the rates of a railroad 
extending through only one state ? Can it regulate a line passing 
through two or more states ? Explain the difference. Mention reasons 
against the admission of each class of immigrants excluded by the 
present laws of the United States. Why did Cleveland think that 
tariff rates ought to be reduced? 

6. Compare the settlement of Oklahoma with that of Virginia ; 
of Tennessee. What voting rights have women under the laws of the 
state in which you live? Do you think they ought to have more or 
less rights ? Why ? Describe the plan and purpose of reciprocity in a 
tariff bill. Explain the Australian ballot system. Why was it adopted 
in so many states ? Write an account of Harrison’s life. 

7. Why did most people ask to have notes paid in gold instead of in 
silver? Why was it necessary for the government to pay whichever 
was demanded? Explain the two ways in which a bill may become 
law without a president’s signature. Give reasons for the financial 
distress during Cleveland’s term. Give reasons in favor of the United 
States interfering in Cuba; reasons against it. Describe the gold fields 
of Alaska. Write an account of Cleveland’s life. 

8. Describe the great steel trust. What were the causes of the War 


TOPICS FOR STUDY 


xxv 


with Spain? its results? Give a history of the Philippines from their 
discovery by Magellan to the present time. 

9. Name the chief territorial acquirements of the United States and 
tell how each was gained. Why did the world’s population increase in 
the nineteenth century more rapidly than ever before? Tell some of the 
causes of the growth of cities. Why has America grown more rapidly 
in population than other countries? Give an account of the chief labor- 
saving inventions of the nineteenth century. Tell ways in which laws 
and customs changed during the century. In what ways has country 
life improved ? Why are most of cur cities worse governed than our 
counties and states? Describe and explain the rapid improvement of 
the South after the War of Secession. Describe the advance in edu¬ 
cation during the nineteenth century. Name the chief American authors 
of the first third of the nineteenth century ; of the second third; of the 
last third. Name a famous American scientist; an artist; an architect; 
a musician; tell something about each. Why has America more im¬ 
migrants than emigrants ? From what country did your ancestors come ? 
Why did they come to America? Name some problems before the 
United States at the end of the nineteenth century. 

10. How many presidents have been murdered ? Write an account 
of McKinley’s life. Tell about the need and value of forest reserves. 
Give an account of the Panama Canal. 

11. Tell some ways in which railroads are regulated by the general 
government. Why are rate laws passed by states instead of by the 
general government ? Give an account of the anti-liquor movement. 
Compare a ‘wet’ town with a ‘dry’ one. Name some germ diseases. 
In what way can they be checked and destroyed ? Compare the out¬ 
break of yellow fever in Philadelphia in 1793 with that in New Orleans 
in 1905. In what ways can tuberculosis be prevented ? How can it be 
cured in its early stages ? Tell some of our health duties to ourselves 
and to others. 

12. Give a history of the tariff from 1792 to the present time. Is 
the present tariff a benefit or an injury to your family ? to your neigh¬ 
borhood ? to your state ? to the United States ? 

Exercises 

1. Resolved: that Congress had no right to make laws for the 
southern states while they were not represented in it. Write a letter 
from a southern man describing his home in 1865. Collect pictures of 
Alaska, — scenery, products, and people. 


XXVI 


TOPICS FOR STUDY 


2. Resolved; that all disputes between nations ought to be settled 
by arbitration. Describe a journey across the continent on the Union 
Pacific Railroad soon after it was completed. Write a story describing 
a child’s escape from the Chicago fire. Write a letter from a woman 
telling her reasons for joining the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union. 

3. Resolved: that labor organizations are a benefit to a country. 
Write a dialogue between a union and a non-union workman, each 
explaining and defending his position. Draw a picture of Eads’s jetties. 

4. Resolved: that all civil service appointments should be governed 
by the merit system. Describe the changes after election in a govern¬ 
ment office, under the spoils system. Write a story about an old 
man’s first conversation over the telephone; illustrate the story with 
drawings. 

5. Resolved: that the general government does right in excluding 
paupers and illiterate immigrants. Describe the immigrants landing in 
New York in one day, illustrating the sketch with pictures. 

6. Resolved: that the suffrage should be given to women. Write a 
letter, purporting to be from an Oklahoma settler, describing his ride to 
take up a claim. Hold an election for class president, vice president, 
and secretary, using the Australian ballot system and marking the 
ballots properly. 

7. Describe work in a coal mine and a strike there. Collect pictures 
of Hawaii, illustrating scenery, products, and native life. Write in 
journal form an account of a miner’s trip to Alaska. 

8. Resolved: that trusts ought to be prohibited by law. Write a 
letter purporting to be from one of Roosevelt’s Rough Riders, describ¬ 
ing army life in Cuba. Collect pictures to illustrate Cuban and Philip¬ 
pine life. 

9. Resolved: that the force of electricity is more useful to man than 
that of steam. Make drawings of ten labor-saving inventions used by 
your family or friends. Write an account of a family’s attempt to do 
for one day without the labor-saving inventions of the last half century. 
Write a dialogue between a city and a country boy, each describing the 
advantages of his home. Describe a day in your school; compare it 
with a day in an American school a hundred years ago. Read three 
American books of the nineteenth century and write an account of the 
one you like best. Make a picture gallery of American authors of the 
nineteenth century ; of American statesmen ; of American generals. 

10. Describe a visit to a western forest reserve ; illustrate the sketch 
with pictures. Give an account of a day’s work on the Panama Canal. 


TOPICS FOR STUDY 


XXVll 


11 . Resolved: that all ocean vessels ought to be equipped for wire¬ 
less telegraphy. Describe the war on tuberculosis in a city, such as 
New York; illustrate the sketch with drawings. 

12. Make a list of things used in your family, the price of which is 
affected by tariff rates. Collect portraits of all the presidents from 
Washington to Wilson and tell one noteworthy fact about each. Make 
a list of reasons why you are glad that you are an American. 

Suggested Readings 

Speech on Reconstruction by Thaddeus Stevens : December 18,1865 ; 
‘‘The Stricken South to the North ” by P. H. Hayne; speech on Civil 
Service Reform by Carl Schurz: December 12, 1894; Shame of the 
Cities by Lincoln Steffens; ‘‘Cuba Libre” by Joaquin Miller; “Word 
of the Lord from Havana” by Richard Hovey; Old Creole Days by G. 
W. Cable ; In Ole Virginia , and Red Rock by Thomas Nelson Page; 
Uncle Remus stories by J. C. Harris; In the Tennessee Mountains by 
‘Charles Egbert Craddock’; “Ship of State” by H. W. Longfellow; 
“ Gone Forward ” by Margaret J. Preston ; Up from Slavery by Booker 
Washington; “Centennial Hymn” by J. G. Whittier; How the Other 
Half Lives, and Children of the Poor by J. A. Riis ; Ramona by H. H. 
Jackson ; Panama: the Canal , the Country , and the People by A. Bul¬ 
lard ; “ Song of the Flags ” by S. Weir Mitchell; “ Grover Cleveland” 
by Joel Benton; “Unguarded Gates” by T. B. Aldrich; “Makers of 
the Flag” by Franklin Lane. 

Picture List 

Cowboy Mounting, and Lost in a Blizzard by Borglum; pictures of 
American authors and their homes; works of art by Americans, espe¬ 
cially portrait of his Mother and other pictures by J. McNeil Whistler; 
Cumaean Sybil and other pictures by Elihu Vedder; Christmas Chimes 
and other pictures by Blashfield; and the Puritan, Lincoln, Grief, and 
other statues by Augustus St. Gaudens. 


LIST OF BOOKS 


FOR REFERENCE AND TEACHER’S USE 

Those marked with asterisk form a brief, comprehensive school 
library at moderate cost. 

Most of the contemporary accounts in the lists of Suggested Readings 
are published, in inexpensive forms, in Hart’s Source Book of American 
History , Hart’s American History Told by Contemporaries , the Old 
South Leaflets, Channing and Hart’s American History Leaflets , and 
similar series. 

Aftierican History and its Geographic Co 7 iditions by E. C. Semple 
The European Background of American History by Max Fernald 
Story of the American India 7 is by G. B. Grinnell 

* The Discovery of A 7 /ierica by John Fiske 
Christopher Columbus by C. R. Markham 
John and Sebastian Cabot by C. R. Beazley 

* The Colo 7 iies by R. G. Thwaites 

Principal Navigations , Volumes 12-16, by Richard Hakluyt 
English Colonies in America by J. A. Doyle 

A Short History of the English Colo 7 iies in America by H. C. Lodge 

Old Virgmia and her Neighbors by John Fiske 

Works of John Smith edited by E. Arber 

The Begimiings of New England by John Fiske 

The Story of the Pilgrims by E. Arber 

Dutch and Quaker Colonies by John Fiske 

* The Struggle for a Continent by Francis Parkman 
The American Revolution by John Fiske 

The War of Independence by John Fiske 
The Federalist Papers 

* The Formation of the Unio 7 i by A. B. Hart 
George Washington by Woodrow Wilson 
Franklin’s Autobiography 

The Ma 7 iy-sided Franklin by Paul Leicester Ford 
Daniel Boone by R. G. Th waites 

xxviii 



LIST OF BOOKS 


xxix 


The Winning of the West by Theodore Roosevelt 
Industrial History of the United States by Katherine Coman 
History of Literature in America by Wendell and Greenough 
Thot?ias Jefferson by James Schouler 

* Division and Reunion by Woodrow Wilson 
Henry Clay by Carl Schurz 

John C. Calhoun by H. E. von Holst 
Daniel Webster by H. C. Lodge 

Battles and Leaders of the Civil War published by the Century Co. 
Bird's Eye View of our Civil War by T. A. Dodge 
Abraham Lincoln by J. T. Morse 
Robert E. Lee by W. P. Trent 

Robert E. Lee , Man and Soldier by Thomas Nelson Page 
Confederate Portraits by Gamaliel Bradford 
Photographic History of the Civil War 
Twenty Years in Congress by J. G. Blaine 
Thirty Years in the Senate by Thomas H. Benton 
The New South and Other Addresses by Henry Grady 

* History of the American People by Woodrow Wilson 
The American Commonwealth by James Bryce 

The State by Woodrow Wilson 


CHARTS AND OUTLINES 


Some 

Eastern 

Indians 


Some 

Western 

Tribes 


NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS 


Algonquins 


Iroquois 


Maskoki 

Dakotas 

Comanches 

Shoshones 

Aztecs 


Mohegans 

Pequots 

Narragansetts 

Wampanoags 

Massachusetts 

Delawares 

Powhatans 

Shawnees 

Five Nations 

Six Nations 
after being 
joined by 


Senecas 
Cavugas 
\ Onondagas 
Oneidas 
l Mohawks 

Tuscaroras 


( Hurons 
Eries 

l Cherokees 


Seminoles 

Creeks 

Chocktaws 

Chickasaws 


XXX 









EUROPE IN AMERICA 


xxxi 


EUROPE IN AMERICA, 1492-1614 


For Spain 


Columbus 

Magellan 

Balboa 

De Leon 

Narvaez 

De Soto 

Coronado 


| For England 
Discoverers and Ex- \ 
plorers 


The Cabots 
Drake 
Gilbert 
Ralegh 


I Verrazano 
Cartier 
Champlain 


it id * if Cabral 
For Portugal \ TT 

[ Vespucci 

For Holland Hudson 


Spanish 


f St. Augustine, 1565 
[ Santa Fd, 1582 


First Settlements in 
United States and 
Canada 


English 

French 


Jamestown, 1607 
Quebec, 1608 


Dutch 


Manhattan, 1613 







XXX11 


NEGRO SLAVERY IN AMERICA 


NEGRO SLAVERY IN AMERICA 

In Spanish Colonies 


In English 

Colonies 

Slaves first imported: i. When ? 2. Whence ? 

3. Why ? 4. By whom ? 

English government’s part in slave trade. 

Slave and free labor. 

How slavery was regarded during sixteenth and 
seventeenth centuries. 

In the American 
Republic 

Effect of climate and industries on institution of 
slavery. 

Ordinance of 1787. 

Law of the Constitution about slavery : 

1. Counting slaves. 2. Importing slaves. 

3. Returning runaway slaves. 

Change of opinion about slavery. 

Views of statesmen on subject. 

Antislavery movement in South. 

Effect of cotton gin. 

Influence of slavery on: 1. Settlement 

2. Labor. 3. Industries. 

Louisiana Purchase. 

Missouri Compromise. 

Admission of states in pairs, free and slave. 
Annexation of Texas. 

Wilmot Proviso. 

Antislavery movement in North: 1. Aboli¬ 
tionists. 2. Uncle Toni's Cabin. 3. ‘ Under¬ 
ground railroad. 1 4. Personal liberty laws. 
Compromise of 1850. 

Kansas-Nebraska Bill. 

Dred Scott decision. 

John Brown’s raid. 

Influence of slavery on secession. 

Emancipation Proclamation. 

Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amend¬ 
ments to Constitution. 

Slaves 1 conduct during war. 

Freedmen during reconstruction period. 
Comparison of negroes as slaves and citizens. 




LIST OF PRESIDENTS 


LIST OF PRESIDENTS 


xxxm 


H 

Z, 

14 

Q 

53 

[4 

CC 

PL, 

[4 

U 


> 

« 

Q 

(4 

H 

U 

14 

w 


c 

o 

cn 

.45 
c n £ 

£ ^ 
re l— 
T3 in 

< 5 
S O 


cn 
c 

• rH 

44 

CL b C 

a ^ E 3 3 

o b§ o o 

C 05 H ~z — 
. . .f-H r* X X 

uD°q^ 

O O n C C C 
45 45 £? « -A 0 


e 

o 

g C 


— X 


fKjoowa .s s 


c 

o 

</3 

c 


<5 .45 
T3 

re^ 

rC C2 
O 

r; o 


</) 

X 

15 

Q 


.< ML 

4) T3 
ba g 

g re 
o = 
oi 

OS 


<u 

bJD 

T3 

•£ C 
^ c '— 

5 3 § 

jx, o re 

2 K 

lffi re 

re^ 

S c 
£2 


S, 


b 

O 

</i 

G 


Jb 


g 

.45 
45 £ 

<L) 3 
43 43 


£ 

C SJ 

S 73 

X rj 


e> ^ 

0 O r> < 
O tn ^ 

45 ^ £ g 

>> > ■ re .2 

p £ 22 w 

r-i X ■—• (1) 

O ^>43 



re 

C 43 

re cn 
£ re 

G k-i 


c n 


C2 


C /3 w 

_ G 
£ £ 
E ° 

re, 



in 

cn 


c 

c 


re 

re 


0 

0 


• 1 —, 

. —m 


s 

2 


3 

p 


a 

Cl 


05 

05 

05 

(Z 

£2 

CL 

6 

O 

O C/5 

2 n 

-♦-* 

X 

•*—> 

X 

<d re 

r£ 05 
T3 

S-re 

0 

O 

£ 

S-t 

0 

O 

E 

X^ D 

05 

05 


Q 

Q 


in 

w aj 

C > 
re •— 
.H x 

3 c 

3 & 

O ^ 

fr <d 

(U j_ 

a 

i 0 

.2 Oh 


So 

o 111 

S = 

0 o 


x 

u 
o 
O 

£ 

v 

Q X Q 


m 

X 


i/) cn 

X X 
u u 
o o 


x 

2 .be bp 2 .be hp § § 
X r7 X C3 r" 1 X X 
tu r* r o a; 0 

Q^P^QQ 


(/) 

m 

w 

cn cn cn 

cn 


(/) 

C/5 

X 

X 

X 

C C G 

cn C 

m 

X 

X 

X 

X 

X 

re re re 

33 re 


X 

X 

0 

0 

O 

.2 .2 .2 

re 0 

X 

0 

0 

• iH 

•»—« 

•* 


G MM 

j-i 


• r-4 

2 

3 

rQ 

3 3 3 

0 2 

0 

O 

3 

3 

p 

b 

X 

p p p 

C 3 

X 

X 

p 

a 

CL 

a 

cl c. a 

E CL 

X 

a 

CL 

0) 

OJ 

0 

05 05 0) 

05 a; 

0 

0 

05 


c2 a: & c^fZctfQasQ oi od 


in 

X co 
X -X 

.2 s 

1 ° 

Cl E 

a; <u 

C2 3 


[4 

U 

G 

G 

o 

G 

O 

s 

04 

14 

H 


tN 

O H 
In o 

w 00 

<S V 

00 

On 

M 

. M 

If) 

E E 

J-. S-G 
0 0 
G-* G-» 

W 







10 

IO 

VO 

ON 







re- 0 co 

00 

VO 







00 IT) IO 

H 

00 







3 1 00 00 

1 

M 


S' 

00 

XI 

| 

M 

00 

M 

ON 

O 

I?ON 

°°c» 

M 00 

1 M 

K 

CO 

00 

M 

| 

M 

X“ 

00 

M 

1 G G 

i ON 1 1 N G 

re- -f ON O 1>5 nO 

G 00 C50 

G C» OO M M 

W 

vO 

00 

M 

1 

IO 

vO 

00 

w 

C^S 

00 

M 

1 

H 

O 

G LO 

CN 

0) 

1 

c .L 1 1 

0 22 .- r 

6 

6 

Q\ 

vO 

OO 

M 

00 

M 

M 

00 

M 

CO 

00 

M 

Li 2 re- 0 4 ir> in 
1 2 00 00 

X 

M 

E 

00 

M 

C/f 

E 

w 

E 

in ~ 

£ E 

in 

£ 

s 

, G g re-00 G g 

B 

M 

in 

E 

Fh 

U 

U S-H 

JH 


• J-« • • J_, Ul 


• 

G 

0 

0 

0 0 

0 

0 

C X 0 X X 0 0 

0 

>-• 

45 

+-• 

-♦—* 

+-• 

■4-5 

-♦—' 

-♦—• 

>, 



(M 

(N w 

(N 

M 

H fOH H d H H 

M 

co 

M 


00 

00 


& § 

1-4 M 


o 

On 


00 

00 


00 

00 


On CO 
00 o On 
00 00 00 


I 

IN 

On 

00 


L-’W M- 

M M M ^ NU M 


CO 

M 

ON 


rs. ^ 

t^OO 
00 CO 


LO 


c> 


I 

CO 


_ 00 00 ON 

£ 00 00 00 


J-G 

0 

—'ICJ 
M \Q 


^»G|a 

6 10 g* e" 

E r * ' 


o 

E 

NO 


CO 


„ ^ E 

. V- U ^ 

r 0 0 0 

*>* •«-* G-G G—* 


e e" 8 s 

00 ^ 


CO H W H 


I fO 
On w 
O ON 
O' G 

G 

- b/) 

E.E 
fc & 

G IU 

G c/j 


(4 

H 

< 

H 

CO 


in 

o 
w 
3 
re 43 
.2 o 
c re 
•— 

bfi m 
g re 


re 


M 

G 


in 

-4-* 
0 
If) 

X 

.So 
X x 

•G -r- LO 

fc/} b/) in 
~ *-• X 


X 

*3 


> > ><; H 


44 

J-G 

o 

£.2 
0) 


10 

G 

(A re 
a C 

E re 

re 


<U rt 44 
<0 2 g 

re »i 5 o-« 

m re m 

W) g '3 ^ ^ c 

1 —I X — rtl 1 GH 


0J43.G C 0«J1J S 

zo>HhJ^2:cu 


co 

’0 

c 


<u 

0) 

in 

in 

<L> 

G 

G 

<U 


44 44 

G G 

O O 


44 

G 

re ,0 


o 
c 

43 43 43 


> >< 3 >< 

s ^ 

^ 5 


g r 1 


o > > 

" £ 5^ 

OOZZgZ 


_o 

IS 

o 


44 

G 

o 

> 

<u 

z 


_re 

'E 

.2 '& 

43 .b 

o> 


(4 

S 

< 

Z 


o 

Z 


G 

O 

4-* 

bX) 

.s 

m m 

g s 

< re 

^ TO 

bo ^ 
E 3 

O G 

<u -q 


c 

o 

m 

i-G 

eg 

a; 


(4 

re 

£ 

o 



c 

o 

in 

'g 

g 

C 

S x 

•G 

3 >, 

CQ ' 


<u 

^00 


3 o E 

c ^ !_ D-, re T3 
re 5C u . H 

> G 

- C f-H 

.E re “ w b g 
r = 3 « jc « 
re .g E o — 
lh >• o re re lg 
1 Z 1 > ' ~>N 


C 

oj re 

O G 
L_ X 

^ re 


Cl, u 

*v« w 
PZ 0 

re £ 
re 

GH I-1 


E 

re 

43 

re 

G 

40 

< 


c 

o 

14 

c 

43 

O 
1 —1 

15 
<u 

G 

TO 

c 

< 


c 

re 

G 

a 

c/: 

C/5 

0) 

C/5 

1/5 

>N 


c/5 

<U 

g'tO ^ 
cC 33 

CQ re*£ 

■P°J 

G J N G 

fe « Si 

cz 0 in 
X C (U 

<z^G 


•§!•§ 

i5 g iS 
aj re u 

> T! > 

D g jj 

u.so 

G E G 

05 G <U 

> .2, > 
o c o 

G 3J G 

OWO 


>n 05 
0) > 
33 05 

C w 

'3 0 
Z O 
o ;v: 

m 

G Lh 

C ° 
re ^3 
•43 o 

.33 2 

£ H 


X 

G 3 

T o 

15 > 
o > 

£ 2 
re to 
43 o 

03 O 

££ 


M <N CO 


re- tovo 


cooNOG(Nrere->n 

G G M H G W 


NO 


N (50 On O *-i O CO re- lONO 

m g GNdOOCM (N OJ 


IN 00 
OJ (N 

























THE UNITED STATES AND ITS POSSESSIONS 


xxxiv 


THE UNITED STATES 


Q 

w 

X 

►4 

D 

O' 

U 

< 

£ 

o 

K 


’So 


2 

*b/3 


o)<Doo;iDOOiDaja>ooo 

4 —< 4 —■ 4 —* 4 —> 4 —• 4-> 4 —> 4 —» 

tnininintnuiLnwLnintn in w 

CCGGCGGCGGCCC 

®l>®a)<D<D(D<D<DU<D<D® 
<D X) (D 1) (D <U tD CU " ‘ 


T3 

C 

d 


O O 

<D a; 

u o 


d 

c 


.G G G G # G G G .G 

IS S 'S IS 'S 3 2 IS 


aj a> oj a; <u 

T3 !_ I_ G 

3 3 3 3 


£ 

to 


ddddddddddddd 

c c c see c c c c _c c c 

’ Sd’So’ SqSfSo.So’ 5c Sj’So’bc’Sj’ So'So 

5 —t }—i J—h S—« S—* 5—4 J—t 5 —» 5 —< V—< 5 —« }—< 5 —* 

ooooooooooooo 

<4— <4_h V-4 <4-4 '4—< <4-4 <4-4 <4-. <4 —, <4-4 <4-4 ' 4 —. <4-4 

OOOOOOOOOOOOO 

(uoootuooajooiooa) 

CGCCCCGCCCGGG 

OOOOOOOOOOOOO 


o 

1 - 

n 3 >n 03 

£.20 S 3 

l-l-S'C-g 

£ b/0 g £ g 

• i3 >1 o r v 3 

o ^ ^ 

^ to >n« £ 

C“p 43 g 

2 T3 -a ^ -35 
•r <u ® go .12 
tor i: ^ 
® ® ® O o 

HUU2J 


03 

C 

d 

d 

i>>5 

>- 03 

O O 
,to g • 
g d 
G r 1 
® n—' 


c/i 


03 
c 
rc 3 

03 c/5 
XC 3 


o 

g 


r _«S tn 


O £ 


C/3 " 


1/5 >> «? 

£ 

jr 03 dg 

03 ® -g 

Jr 03 £ 
O u o 

ZUZ 


>> > 
XI X 

03 03 
0 ® 
03 03 
a) ® 

UU 


® ® to 

cO c/l ^—• 

a cu o 
X .3 .t: 
o o {-> 

5 5 
Ph Ph 

d d 1/5 

G G ® 

safe 

•»-••*-* 3, 
c/3 c/3 JZ 

• rH • t-4 4-4 

G D Jr 
C O O 


G 

O G 

C /5 o 
c/) VG 
® d 
O X 

4= " 

t /5 G 

G 


d 


c 

d 

a>* 

C /2 CO 


3 

Cl. 

O 

Pi 


<N rf nO NlO^O O 

M M -■ t^. 10 it - M 

vO_ nO_ Tf to On COnO_ CO <N w 
m" cOnO* O* 4 ui IN « vo’ 

NO UNO CO w 00-0 O 

o h non o uici n 


d NNO w H 

<N 00 NO O w 0) 


(NO CO 


N 


if M M 

IN IO to O 
CO M NO O 
lO IO NO NO_ 

cT m“ c4 oT 


NO toOwoONO Tj-IH COM inOcOON 
tO O CO <NOO C^M OONCOONH Tf 


CfONH fC'OO. 

to o Tf tNNO O 

toco 00 NO to o 
CON H c^nO. 

* ef 4- m“ of 


co CO Tf M NO to 

of co d- o of no* 


<N 


_ to o 

t4.0O*0O* .. 

O co CO Tf O tN H too 
tv.NO_ M^ c> N LOOO_ t^00_ 
m" 10 of CO M* of CO 


< 

u 

X 

< 


O O to to o o 

to M o O M 

if m_ cq co q q 
of 000" o Tf of 

Tf Tf M 


O O O to O to to 

LO to to M K. ( ^ 

<n o_ <n 00 to q Tf 
M* of of 0 ^ o’ to o 
to CO Tf to 


toOOOOOOO 
NO O IONO 01 M Tf o 
to 0 _ Oi On Tf ON CO 

O O* W* o* to to o*NO* M 000 CO t 4 Tf of 
TfTfTfTfCOTfLOtOOlNO to lO LONO 

01 


o to to to o o o 

Tf On CO Tf CO Tf ON 

1000 o. o Tf oi 01 


•j 

< 

H 

s 

< 

u 


G 

O 

S 

x 

o 


LO 


C 

•° o 


"O T3 

G G 

O X 

y ^3 

C G 

o Cd 


CD 

o 
G 
O ® 
0.-0 
2 > 
c 0 


x e 
m2 
53 g 

TO oj 


bo 

G 

3 

LO 

•g G 
rt ^ 


g t: <d 


P LO 

bo- — 

5 o 


oc;<;cqu3r:<cuPPCHU3r;< 


C/5 

_ G T 3 v 

ojr-Pfil 

> £ G 
c O 

O d d « - X! 


Vm 

CD 


a 

cti 

C 

cd 


CJ^ 

o 
C O 
0 

m ^ 

}-c 


^ a; fc . 

Cep 

O b/} t>JD co 

i^ocalltlll 

3 ZUP 3 cS S< moJ 4 HC 


(D 


O 
CD 
CO 

• GtG g 

LO 03 * 4 — 
GG 05 

3 _3 3 


Q 

HI 

J 

E 

w 

CO 


KCO 0 COCO Tf NO 00 CO Tf o N CO 
O H M N COCOCOCO IONO Koo CO 
nOnOnOn0nOnOnOnOnOnOn0nO C^ 


Q G 

w o 

H 3 h (N nO CO 01 nO C^OO On O m nO Oi to to 
C " O^PPO H H H h 1 N N COOf-f 
1-P N N NCO cooooooooococooooooooo 

5 MMMHMMMMHMMMMMM 

B o 

< H 


W 

h 

< 

H 

CO 


d O 

*C t' 1 * 
‘5b ^ 

.ii cd 


0 ) 

^4 

15 

g 4-4 

CX 

£2 


d 

.£ d 


o 2 1 

D ^2 


-2 

C/3 


(D 


v 

c b o J3 

o ^3 cd 


CS 


to O 

® G 

d 


2 

& 

0 


S>;z;^£u^&q££c/2pLiO 


>^!{ • d 

'c ^ c/3 C 
o U • X 

CJ H U "3 

gl §.2*3 

® 3 03 G3 o 


a 

a 

^3 1 
in •( 


a3 


„ (/ C 
ctf c3 

§ S.SP-S 
■8-S.sH-g 


a3 


*—• - — *r —1 , -—■ - - 

M <4 f- 







































































THE UNITED STATES AND ITS POSSESSIONS — Continued 


THE UNITED STATES 


xxxv 


Q 

Id 

« 

3 

o* 

u 

«i 

IS 

o 

K 


t> 

CL, 

O 

P-i 


0 


in 

u 

d 

O 

A 


O 

*Jh 

d 

J— 
OJ ' 


CD 

in 


3 


3 


O 


X 


• i—< 

If) 


O 


w 


3 


<D 


3 


0 


cu 


C 


3 


oi 


3 


0 


_3 

in 


• rH 

X 

<D 


'3 

d) £ 

CD <5 

<D 

O 


in 

3 X 

m 

d 

>N~X 

3X3 

rC 

C % 


a 

o 

• M 

in 

in 

<D 

u 

3 

3 

o 

'x 

<u 


£x 


3 w 

c <u 

.3 £ 
55 


3 A 
3 pH 

o . 


X < 
<D < 


5 o 


S 3 

Cjg 

3 3 

P„'55 

b0-~ 

CD 3 

OJ 


p* O O 3 

3 <u 

£ 

3 X 

3 p 

.3 3 

Oh 
Pi . 
o 3 


S C/) 
CO 

O OJ 
£ ° 
£ 

0) £ 
e x 

o ^ 


s- 
3 3 
Oh CU 

3 3 
3 3 
3 3 

• r-( • rH 

co co 


i d) 
I CO 

! oj 

: 

» o 


"0 

C 

i— 1 i—■ Hi 

d_» -i_» '•« 


3 3 3 OJ 
X 3 3 <n 
O O 3 
3 U C) x 

3 W o 

tj C 3 h 

3 o o X 
x bo bcP- 1 

Pi CD tu 
5 —• J—• cri 


<u 

co 

d 

C ^ 

.2 2 
in 3 

8&« 
° 3 
3 C 

3 3 


3 

O 


O 


in m 
in m 
CL) 3 
O O 

3 3 
3 3 
o o 


3 3 3 a7 CL) . i] Pi 
OOOs-s-.rtxO,-,^ 


£ x X 


x x 

OJ CD 


m O ONX X O' O' X 3" 3"X X CO O TfiOH XX rf 

t^X 3-OX 3-1-1 fN H <N inoo X On OnX X X O' X 

tsco in n is a; h oo_ n o_ o_m_ o_ a >n CN co h cn 3 

PmKinoT rT h lj of cfitC 0QX~ t-T X X CO Cs N if 

ON KX C^3-<N 3-t^X<N O 
i—* Cv.XXXi-1 XH xx X CM 


X f'x X 01 O ■ ■ 
X N N N o O OO 
X X O X X ct 

of of of of h“ h 


3- 

01 

CM 


3 

• r—1 

in 

in 

3 

C2 

£ 

o 


X 3 
<D X 
in aj 
3 C 
X c 
o 3 

3 

Ph m 


3 

o 


in in 
in m 
CD 0 ) 
O O 

X X 
in m 

"S ’s 

3 3 

a a 

tf c n 



H— 

X ON 

(N vO 

X O 

M 3 

X ON 

O 3 - 

3 - w 

00 LO 

X ON 

M CO 

W 

1-1 X 
h“ tl 


*- * 


3 " ON 

X X 

00 d- 
00 ■'^r 

O LO 

VO 00 

0 X 

x 

ON 

3 

X 

M 


< 

w 

« 

< 


X O 0X0 o 

0 -> XX 0X0 
3" 't CN 0)_ in tsO 
X rf X CTn if M* 3 
X X X ONTO 01 


XOOXXOOOOXOOOO 
3- 3“ 3* 3" On X w X O' t>- O' XX 01 
* t^x x m x xx oi x h x_ 3 - co 

cfx" coo"x" xx" 3 1 tV of O' 01 3 " 
O NO NO 3-X x ONX X 01 H 


J 

< 

h 

CL 

<; 

CJ 


in 

<u 

3 


o 3±; 


3 

Pd 13 
o a; 

" §••= 


«u 


3 ,3 
O O 
in o 

3 .2 S .2 .2 


Pd 

O 

}-< 

d 

s 


3 
a> c 
fc; A 

■■ 0 


3 

’S. 

E 


>N.-3 

^3 
O a) 2 

cpiE 

c 3 o 

£ J-G 
«• ^ 


X 

& 


3 ' 


2 


3,5 

3 o 

2 3 

SP o 


« h 3 P 3 0 3 P ^ .s P ” - OP cj” c«P 3 Pl 

Q^c/2t/3c/vH^U)JQmp-iffiOfflOc/2O(Z)0-i t— 


g§ 

H 2 

5 p 

<; 3 


XX OX O' H X 3- KX OnONOnOnO OX t>01 01 
3- 3 - X X XX XXX t^X XXX OnOnOnO h h 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX ONONON 

MMlHHMl-IrtMMHMHHHHHHMMIH 


W 

N 

00 

0 


X 

0 

< 

00 

ON 

0 

w 

M 

O 




M 

3 

< 

3 

CO 


3 


3 3 


O O 

p* Pd 

• • c* ■ 3 o 3 3 M 

^ ^Pd-oPCl c 

3 in>.c2 in 2 hH 3-l 3 
3ir' l ^’T-Srrt3__3 


bjj 

u 


3 Ol 3 

£ ? U s C £ 


O 3 

Wl 3 « > X 

^3^00 


X 

3 


5 X j3 

o O 3 


3 

O 
-+-* 
bo 
3 

X 
3 in 
O «i 


bo 

3 

E 
o x 
1 ^, 3 


3 ■ 
S 


o 

o 

X 

4J 


in 

Id 

5 

o 

3 

5 

3 

Id 

H 


in 

W 

u 

z 

Id 

Q 

Z 

Id 

a, 

Id 

Q 


3 

>-, 

<u 

> 

o 

ho 


X 3 

O U 


zzSzmS% 3 £doz< 


3 :s 

X 3 
JS d 

cu 


u 

(D 


o S 

.2 3 

C2 'a 

2 x 

u X 

o x 

PuPh 


Aggregate area of land and inclosed water. f Census of 1903. 

































































XXXVI 


TERRITORY ACQUIRED 


TERRITORY ACQUIRED 


Louisiana Territory from France, in 1803, for $15,000,000 
By Florida Territory from Spain, in 1821, for $5,000,000 

Purchase j Gadsden Purchase from Mexico, in 1853, for $10,000,000 
Alaska from Russia, in 1867, for $7,200,000 


By Annexation 


Texas, in 1845 
Hawaii, in 1898 


By War 


Mexican cession, in 1848, for $15,500,000 
Porto Rico and Guam from Spain, in 1899 
Philippines from Spain, in 1899, for $20,000,000 



IMPORTANT DATES IN AMERICAN HISTORY xxxvii 

IMPORTANT DATES IN AMERICAN HISTORY 


1492. The New World discovered by Columbus. 

1497. The continent of North America discovered by Cabot. 

1565. The first permanent settlement in the United States made by Spaniards 
at St. Augustine, Florida. 

1607. The first permanent English settlement in the United States 
made at Jamestown, Virginia. 

{ Representative government established in the English colony of 
Virginia. 

Slavery introduced into the English colony of Virginia. 

1620. The second permanent English settlement established at Plymouth, 
Massachusetts. 

1636. The first college in the United States founded at Harvard, Mass. 

1664. The English seized New Netherland. 

1 733 - Georgia, the last of the thirteen British colonies, founded. 

1759. Capture of Quebec. 

1763. Peace of Paris, ceding to the British the French possessions in America. 
1765. Parliament passed the Stamp Act. 
x 775-i78i. War of the Revolution. 

1775. Battle of Bunker Hill. 

1776. Declaration of Independence. 

1781. Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown. 

1783. Treaty of Paris, making peace between the United States and Great 
Britain. 

1787. Constitution of the United States drawn up by convention. 

1789. Washington inaugurated first president of the United States. 

1792. Whitney invented the cotton gin. 

1803. Louisiana territory purchased from France. 

1807. Fulton’s steamboat made a successful trip. 

1812-1815. War with Great Britain. 

1813. Battle of Lake Erie. 

1814. Battle of Lake Champlain 

1815. Battle of New Orleans. 

1820. Missouri Compromise between free and slave states. 

1823. Monroe Doctrine announced. 

1844. First telegraph line established by Morse. 

1846-1848. War with Mexico. 

1846. Battle of Buena Vista. 

1847. March to Mexico. 

1848. Mexican cession of territory. 

1850. Compromise of 1850 between free and slave states. 

1861-1865. War of Secession. 

1862. Monitor and Merrimac fight, the first battle between 
iron-clad vessels. 

1863. Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. 

Battle of Gettysburg. 

Surrender of Vicksburg. 

1865. Lee surrendered at Appomattox. 

1869. First transcontinental railway completed. 

1898. War with Spain. 

Battle of Manila. 

Defeat of Cervera’s fleet at Santiago de Cuba. 


DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE 


In Congress , July 4., 177b, 

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States 

of America 

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one 
people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with 
another, and to assume among the Powers of the earth, the separate 
and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God 
entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that 
they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. 

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created 
equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable 
Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happi¬ 
ness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among 
Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. 
That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these 
ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to insti¬ 
tute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and 
organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely 
to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate 
that Governments long established should not be changed for light 
and transient causes ; and accordingly all experience hath shown, that 
mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to 
right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. 
But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably 
the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Des¬ 
potism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, 
and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been 
the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity 
which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. 
The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated 
injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment 
of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be 
submitted to a candid world. 

xxxviii 



DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE 


xxxix 


He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and neces¬ 
sary for the public good. 

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and 
pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent 
should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected 
to attend to them. 

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large 
districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of 
Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and 
formidable to tyrants only. 

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncom¬ 
fortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for 
the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures. 

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing 
with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people. 

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others 
to be elected; whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihila¬ 
tion, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State 
remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from 
without, and convulsions within. 

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States ; for 
that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; 
refusing to pass others to encourage their migration hither, and raising 
the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands. 

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his 
Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers. 

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of 
their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries. 

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms 
of Officers to harass our People, and eat out their substance. 

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without 
the Consent of our legislature. 

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior 
to the Civil Tower. 

Pie has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign 
to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his 
Assent to their acts of pretended legislation: 

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us: 

For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from Punishment for any 
Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States: 

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world: 

For imposing taxes on us without our Consent: 

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury; 


xl 


DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE 


For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences: 

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring 
Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging 
its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument 
for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies: 

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, 
and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments: 

For suspending our own Legislature, and declaring themselves in¬ 
vested with Power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever. 

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Pro¬ 
tection and waging War against us. 

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and 
destroyed the lives of our people. 

He is at this time transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries to 
com pleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun 
with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most 
barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation. 

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high 
Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners 
of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands. 

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeav¬ 
oured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian 
Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction 
of all ages, sexes and conditions. 

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress 
in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered 
only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by 
every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free 
People. 

Nor have We been wanting in attention to our Brittish brethren. We 
have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to 
extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them 
of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have 
appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured 
them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, 
which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. 
They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. 
We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our 
Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies 
in War, in Peace Friends. 

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, 
in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of 
the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by 


DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE 


xli 


Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and 
declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free 
and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to 
the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and 
the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and 
that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, 
conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all 
other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. 
And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the 
Protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our 
Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor. 

JOHN HANCOCK. 

New Hampshire — Josiah Bartlett, Wm. Whipple, Matthew 
Thornton. 

Massachusetts Bay — Saml. Adams, John Adams, Robt. Treat 
Paine, Elbridge Gerry. 

Rhode Island —Step. Hopkins, William Ellery. 

Connecticut — Roger Sherman, Sam’el Huntington, Wm. Will¬ 
iams, Oliver Wolcott. 

New York — Wm. Floyd, Phil. Livingston, Frans. Lewis, Lewis 
Morris. 

New Jersey — Richd. Stockton, Jno. Witherspoon, Fras. Hop- 
kinson, John Hart, Abra. Clark. 

Pennsylvania — Robt. Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benja. Frank¬ 
lin, John Morton, Geo. Clymer, Jas. Smith, Geo. Taylor, James 
Wilson, Geo. Ross. 

Delaware — Oesar Rodney, Geo. Read, Tho. M’Kean. 

Maryland— Samuel Chase, Wm. Paca, Thos. Stone, Charles 
Carroll of Carrollton. 

Virginia— George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Th. Jefferson, 
Benja. Harrison, Thos. Nelson, jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, 
Carter Braxton. 

North Carolina— Wm. Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn. 

South Carolina — Edward Rutledge, Thos. Heyward, Junr., 
Thomas Lynch, Junr., Arthur Middleton. 

Georgia — Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, Geo. Walton . 1 

1 This arrangement of the names is made for convenience. The 
states are not mentioned in the original. 


CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED 
STATES OF AMERICA 1 

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more per¬ 
fect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquillity, provide for 
the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the 
Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and 
establish this Constitution for the United States of America. 

Article. I. 

Section, i. All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in 
a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and 
House of Representatives. 

Section. 2. The House of Representatives shall be composed of 
Members chosen every second Year by the People of the several States, 
and the Electors in each State shall have the Qualifications requisite for 
Electors of the most numerous Branch of the State Legislature. 

No person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained to 
the Age of twenty-five Years, and been seven Years a Citizen of the 
United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of 
that State in which he shall be chosen. 

Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the 
several States which may be included within this Union, according 
to their respective numbers, which shall be determined by adding to 
the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service 
for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all 
other Persons. The actual Enumeration shall be made within three 
Years after the first Meeting of the Congress of the United States, and 
1 Reprinted from the text issued by the State Department, 
xlii 


CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES xliii 


within every subsequent Term of ten Years, in such Manner as they 
shall by Law direct. The number of Representatives shall not exceed 
one for every thirty Thousand, but each State shall have at Least one 
Representative ; and until such enumeration shall be made, the State of 
New Hampshire shall be entitled to chuse three, Massachusetts eight, 
Rhode Island and Providence Plantations one, Connecticut five, New- 
York six, New Jersey four, Pennsylvania eight, Delaware one, Mary¬ 
land six, Virginia ten, North Carolina five, South Carolina five, and 
Georgia three. 

When vacancies happen in the Representation from any State, the 
Executive Authority thereof shall issue Writs of Election to fill such 
Vacancies. 

The House of Representatives shall chuse their Speaker and other 
Officers; and shall have the sole Power of Impeachment. 

Section. 3. The Senate of the United States shall be composed 
of two Senators from each State, chosen by the Legislature thereof, for 
six Years; and each Senator shall have one Vote. 

Immediately after they shall be assembled in Consequence of the 
first Election, they shall be divided as equally as may be into three 
Classes. The Seats of the Senators of the first Class shall be vacated 
at the Expiration of the second Year, of the second Class at the Expira¬ 
tion of the fourth Year, and of the third Class at the Expiration of the 
sixth Year, so that one third may be chosen every second Year; and if 
Vacancies happen by Resignation, or otherwise, during the Recess of 
the Legislature of any State, the Executive thereof may make tempo¬ 
rary Appointments until the next Meeting of the Legislature, which 
shall then fill such Vacancies. 

No Person shall be a Senator who shall not have attained to the 
A^e of thirty Years, and been nine Years a Citizen of the United States, 
and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State for 
which he shall be chosen. 

The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the 
Senate, but shall have no Vote, unless they be equally divided. 

The Senate shall chuse their other Officers, and also a President 
pro tempore, in the Absence of the Vice President, or when he shall 
exercise the Office of President of the United States. 

The Senate shall have the sole Power to try all Impeachments. 
When sitting for that Purpose, they shall be on Oath or Affirmation. 
When the President of the United States is tried, the Chief Justice 


xliv CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES 


shall preside: And no Person shall be convicted without the Concur¬ 
rence of two thirds of the Members present. 

Judgment in Cases of Impeachment shall not extend further than 
to removal from Office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any 
Office of honor, Trust or Profit under the United States : but the Party 
convicted shall nevertheless be liable and subject to Indictment, Trial, 
Judgment and Punishment, according to law. 

Section. 4. The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections 
for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by 
the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make 
or alter such Regulations, except as to the Places of chusing Senators. 

The Congress shall assemble at least once in every Year, and such 
Meeting shall be on the first Monday in December, unless they shall 
by Law appoint a different Day. 

Section. 5. Each House shall be the Judge of the Elections, 
Returns and Qualifications of its own Members, and a Majority of 
each shall constitute a Quorum to do Business; but a smaller Number 
may adjourn from day to day, and may be authorized to compel the 
Attendance of absent Members, in such Manner, and under such Penal¬ 
ties as each House may provide. 

Each House may determine the Rules of its Proceedings, Punish 
its Members for disorderly Behaviour, and, with the Concurrence of 
two thirds, expel a member. 

Each House shall keep a Journal of its Proceedings, and from 
time to time publish the same, excepting such Parts as may in their 
Judgment require Secrecy; and the Yeas and Nays of the Members of 
either House on any question shall, at the Desire of one fifth of those 
Present, be entered on the Journal. 

Neither House, during the Session of Congress, shall, without the 
Consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to any 
other Place than that in which the two Houses shall be sitting. 

Section. 6 . The Senators and Representatives shall receive a 
Compensation for their Services, to be ascertained by Law, and paid 
out of the Treasury of the United States. They shall in all Cases, 
except Treason, Felony and Breach of the Peace, be privileged from 
Arrest during their Attendance at the Session of their respective 
Houses, and in going to and returning from the same; and for any 
Speech or Debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any 
other Place. 


CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES xlv 


No Senator or Representative shall, during the Time for which he 
was elected, be appointed to any civil Office under the Authority of 
the United States, which shall have been created, or the Emoluments 
whereof shall have been encreased during such time; and no Person 
holding any Office under the United States, shall be a Member of either 
House during his Continuance in Office. 

Section. 7. All Bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the 
House of Representatives; but the Senate may propose or concur 
with Amendments as on other Bills. 

Every Bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives 
and the Senate, shall, before it become a Law, be presented to the 
President of the United States; If he approve he shall sign it, but 
if not he shall return it, with his Objections, to that House in which it 
shall have originated, who shall enter the Objections at large on their 
Journal, and proceed to reconsider it. If after such Reconsideration two 
thirds of that House shall agree to pass the Bill, it shall be sent, together 
with the Objections, to the other House, by which it shall likewise be 
reconsidered, and if approved by two thirds of that House, it shall 
become a law. But in all such Cases the Votes of both Houses shall 
be determined by Yeas and Nays, and the Names of the Persons voting 
for and against the Bill shall be entered on the Journal of each House 
respectively. If any Bill shall not be returned by the President within 
ten Days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, 
the same shall be a Law, in like Manner as if he had signed it, unless 
the Congress by their Adjournment prevent its Return, in which Case 
it shall not be a Law. 

Every Order, Resolution, or Vote to which the Concurrence of the 
Senate and House of Representatives may be necessary (except on a 
question of Adjournment) shall be presented to the President of the 
United States^; and before the Same shall take Effect, shall be approved 
by him, or being disapproved by him, shall be repassed by two thirds 
of the Senate and House of Representatives, according to the Rules and 
Limitations prescribed in the Case of a Bill. 

Section. 8. The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect 
Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for 
the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all 
Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United 
States; 

To borrow Money on the credit of the United States; 


xlvi CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES 


To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several 
States, and with the Indian Tribes; 

To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform Laws 
on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States ; 

To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and 
fix the Standard of Weights and Measures ; 

To provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the securities and 
current Coin of the United States; 

To establish Post Offices and post Roads; 

To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing 
for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to 
their respective Writings and Discoveries; 

To constitute Tribunals inferior to the supreme Court; 

To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high 
Seas, and Offences against the Law of Nations; 

To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make 
Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water; 

To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that 
Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years; 

To provide and maintain a Navy; 

To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and 
naval F orces; 

To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the 
Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions; 

To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia, and 
for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service 
of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appoint¬ 
ment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according 
to the discipline prescribed by Congress; 

To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over 
such District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of 
particular States, and the Acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of 
the Government of the United States, and to exercise like Authority 
over all Places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the 
State in which the same shall be, for the Erection of Forts, Magazines, 
Arsenals, dock-Yards, and other needful Buildings ; — And 

To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying 
into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by 
this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any 
Department or Officer thereof. 


CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES xlvii 


Section. 9. The Migration or Importation of such Persons as any 
of the States now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be pro¬ 
hibited by the Congress prior to the Year one thousand eight hundred 
and eight, but a Tax or duty may be imposed on such Importation, not 
exceeding ten dollars for each Person. 

The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, 
unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may 
require it. 

No Bill of Attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed. 

No Capitation, or other direct, Tax, shall be laid, unless in Propor¬ 
tion to the Census or Enumeration hereinbefore directed to be taken. 

No Tax or Duty shall be laid on Articles exported from any State. 

No Preference shall be given by any Regulation of Commerce or 
Revenue to the Ports of one State over those of another: nor shall 
Vessels bound to, or from, one State, be obliged to enter, clear, or pay 
Duties in another. 

No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence 
of Appropriations made by Law; and a regular Statement and Account 
of the Receipts and Expenditures of all public Money shall be pub¬ 
lished from time to time. 

No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no 
Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, with¬ 
out the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, 
Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or for¬ 
eign State. 

Section. 10. No State shall enter into any Treaty, Alliance, or 
Confederation; grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal; coin Money; 
emit Bills of Credit; make any thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender 
in Payment of Debts; pass any Bill of Attainder, ex post facto Law 
or Law impairing the Obligation of Contracts, or grant any Title of 
Nobility. 

No State shall, without the Consent of the Congress, lay any Im¬ 
posts or Duties on Imports or Exports, except what may be absolutely 
necessary for executing its inspection Laws: and the net Produce of all 
Duties and Imposts, laid by any State on Imports or Exports, shall be 
for the Use of the Treasury of the United States; and all such Laws 
shall be subject to the Revision and Controul of the Congress. 

No State shall, without the Consent of Congress, lay any Duty of 
Tonnage, keep Troops, or Ships of War in time of Peace, enter into 


xlviii CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES 


any Agreement or Compact with another State, or with a foreign Power, 
or engage in War, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent Danger 
as will not admit of Delay. 


Article. II 

Section, i. The executive Power shall be vested in a President 
of the United States of America. He shall hold his Office during the 
Term of four Years, and, together with the Vice President, chosen for 
the same Term, be elected, as follows 

Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof 
may direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of 
Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in 
the Congress: but no Senator or Representative, or Person holding an 
Office of Trust or Profit under the United States, shall be appointed 
an Elector. 

The Electors shall meet in their respective States, and vote by 
Ballot for two Persons, of whom one at least shall not be an Inhabit¬ 
ant of the same State with themselves. And they shall make a List of 
all the Persons voted for, and of the Number of Votes for each ; which 
List they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the Seat of 
the Government of the United States, directed to the President of 
the Senate. The President of the Senate shall, in the Presence of the 
Senate and House of Representatives, open all the Certificates, and the 
Votes shall then be counted. The Person having the greatest Number 
of Votes shall be the President, if such Number be a Majority of the 
whole Number of Electors appointed; and if there be more than one 
who have such Majority, and have an equal Number of Votes, then the 
House of Representatives shall immediately chuse by Ballot one of 
them for President; and if no Person have a Majority, then from the 
five highest on the List the said House shall in like Manner chuse the 
President. But in chusing the President, the Votes shall be taken by 
States, the Representation from each State having one Vote; A quo¬ 
rum for this Purpose shall consist of a Member or Members from two 
thirds of the States, and a Majority of all the States shall be neces¬ 
sary to a Choice. In every Case, after the Choice of the President, the 
Person having the greatest Number of Votes of the Electors shall be 
the Vice President. But if there should remain two or more who have 
equal Votes, the Senate shall chuse from them by Ballot the Vice 
President. 


CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES xlix 


The Congress may determine the Time of chusing the Electors, and 
the Day on which they shall give their Votes; which Day shall be the 
same throughout the United States. 

No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United 
States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligi¬ 
ble to the Office of President; neither shall any Person be eligible to 
that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty-five Years, 
and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States. 

In Case of the Removal of the President from Office, or of his 
Death, Resignation, or Inability to discharge the Powers and Duties of 
the said Office, the Same shall devolve on the Vice President, and the 
Congress may by Law provide for the Case of Removal, Death, Resig¬ 
nation or Inability, both of the President and Vice President, declaring 
what Officer shall then act as President, and such Officer shall act 
accordingly, until the Disability be removed, or a President shall be 
elected. 

The President shall, at stated Times, receive for his Services, a 
Compensation, which shall neither be Increased nor diminished during 
the Period for which he shall have been elected, and he shall not receive 
within that Period any other Emolument from the United States, or any 
of them. 

Before he enter on the Execution of his Office, he shall take the fol¬ 
lowing Oath or Affirmation: — 

“ I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the 
Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my 
Ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United 
States.” 

Section. 2. The President shall be Commander in Chief of the 
Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several 
States, when called into the actual Service of the United States; he 
may require the Opinion, in writing, of the principal Officer in each of 
the executive Departments, upon any Subject relating to the Duties of 
their respective Offices, and he shall have Power to grant Reprieves and 
Pardons for Offences against the United States, except in Cases of 
Impeachment. 

He shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the 
Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present 
concur; and he shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Con¬ 
sent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers 


1 


CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES 


and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court, and all other Officers of 
the United States, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise pro¬ 
vided for, and which shall be established by Law: but the Congress 
may by Law vest the Appointment of such inferior Officers, as they think 
proper, in the President alone, in the Courts of Law, or in the Heads of 
Departments. 

The President shall have Power to fill up all Vacancies that may 
happen during the Recess of the Senate, by granting Commissions 
which shall expire at the End of their next Session. 

Section. 3. He shall from time to time give to the Congress Infor¬ 
mation of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Considera¬ 
tion such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient; he 
may, on extraordinary Occasions, convene both Houses, or either of 
them, and in Case of Disagreement between them, with Respect to the 
Time of Adjournment, he may adjourn them to such Time as he shall 
think proper; he shall receive Ambassadors and other public Minis¬ 
ters ; he shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed, and shall 
Commission all the Officers of the United States. 

Section. 4. The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of 
the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, 
and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misde¬ 
meanors. 

Article. Ill 

Section, i . The judicial Power of the United States, shall be vested 
in one supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress 
may from time to time ordain and establish. The Judges, both of 
the supreme and inferior Courts, shall hold their Offices during good 
Behaviour, and shall, at stated Times, receive for their Services, a Com¬ 
pensation, which shall not be diminished during their continuance in 
Office. 

Section. 2. The judicial Power shall extend to all Cases, in Law 
and Equity, arising under this Constitution, the Laws of the United 
States, and treaties made, or which shall be made, under their Author¬ 
ity;— to all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and 
Consuls ; — to all Cases of admiralty and maritime J urisdiction ; — to 
Controversies to which the United States shall be a Party; —to Con¬ 
troversies between two or more States; — between a State and Citizens 
of another State ; — between Citizens of different States, — between 
Citizens of the same State claiming Lands under Grants of different 


CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES 


li 


States, and between a State, or the Citizens thereof, and foreign States, 
Citizens, or subjects. 

In all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Con¬ 
suls, and those in which a State shall be Party, the supreme Court 
shall have original Jurisdiction. In all the other Cases before mentioned 
the supreme Court shall have appellate Jurisdiction, both as to Law and 
Fact, with such Exceptions, and under such regulations as the Congress 
shall make. 

The Trial of all Crimes, except in Cases of Impeachment, shall be 
by Jury ; and such Trial shall be held in the State where the said Crimes 
shall have been committed; but when not committed within any State, 
the Trial shall be at such Place or Places as the Congress may by Law 
have directed. 

Section. 3. Treason against the United States, shall consist only 
in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving 
them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of Treason 
unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on 
Confession in open Court. 

The Congress shall have Power to declare the Punishment of 
Treason, but no Attainder of Treason shall work Corruption of Blood, 
or Forfeiture except during the Life of the Person attainted. 

Article. IV 

Section, i. Full Faith and Credit shall be given in each State to 
the public Acts, Records, and judicial Proceedings of every other State. 
And the Congress may by general Laws prescribe the Manner in 
which such Acts, Records and Proceedings shall be proved, and the 
effect thereof. 

Section. 2. The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all 
Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States. 

A Person charged in any State with Treason, Felony, or other 
Crime, who shall flee from Justice, and be found in another State, shall 
on Demand of the executive Authority of the State from which he fled, 
be delivered up, to be removed to the State having Jurisdiction of the 
Crime. 

No Person held to Service or Labour in one State, under the Laws 
thereof, escaping into another, shall, in Consequence of any Law or 
Regulation therein, be discharged from such Service or Labour, but shall 


lii 


CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES 


be delivered up on Claim of the Party to whom such Service or Labour 
may be due. 

Section. 3. New States may be admitted by the Congress into 
this Union; but no new State shall be formed or erected within the 
Jurisdiction of any other State; nor any State be formed by the Junc¬ 
tion of two or more States, or Parts of States, without the Consent of 
the Legislatures of the States concerned as well as of the Congress. 

The Congress shall have Power to dispose of and make all need¬ 
ful Rules and Regulations respecting the Territory or other Property 
belonging to the United States; and nothing in this Constitution shall 
be so construed as to Prejudice any Claims of the United States, or 
of any particular State. 

Section. 4. The United States shall guarantee to every State in this 
Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them 
against Invasion; and on Application of the Legislature, or of the 
Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened) against domestic 
Violence. 

Article. V 

The Congress, whenever two thirds of both Houses shall deem it 
necessary, shall propose Amendments to this Constitution, or, on the 
Application of the Legislatures of two thirds of the several States, shall 
call a Convention for proposing Amendments, which, in either case, 
shall be valid to all Intents and Purposes as part of this Constitution, 
when ratified by the Legislatures of three fourths of the several States, 
or by Conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other 
Mode of Ratification may be proposed by the Congress ; Provided that 
no Amendment which may be made prior to the Year one thousand 
eight hundred and eight shall in any Manner affect the first and fourth 
Clauses in the Ninth Section of the first Article; and that no State, 
without its Consent, shall be deprived of its equal Suffrage in the 
Senate. 

Article. VI 

All Debts contracted and Engagements entered into, before the 
Adoption of this Constitution, shall be as valid against the United 
States under this Constitution, as under the Confederation. 

This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall 
be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be 
made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme 


CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES liii 


Law of the land ; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, 
any thing in the Constitution or laws of any State to the Contrary not¬ 
withstanding. 

The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the 
Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judi¬ 
cial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall 
be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no 
religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or 
public Trust under the United States. 

Article. VII 

The Ratification of the Conventions of nine States, shall be sufficient 
for the Establishment of this Constitution between the States so rati¬ 
fying the Same. 


THE AMENDMENTS 

I 

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, 
or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of 
speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assem¬ 
ble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. 

II 

A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free 
State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be 
infringed. 

III 

No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without 
the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be 
prescribed by law. 

IV 

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, 
and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be 
violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, sup¬ 
ported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to 
be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. 


liv CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES 


V 

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous 
crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in 
cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in 
actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person 
be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or 
limb; nor shall be compelled in any Criminal Case to be witness 
against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without 
due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, 
without just compensation. 

VI 

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a 
speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district 
wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have 
been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature 
and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses 
against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining Witnesses in 
his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence. 

VII 

In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed 
twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no 
fact tried by a jury shall be otherwise re-examined in any Court of the 
United States, than according to the rules of the common law. 

VIII 

Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, 
nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted. 

IX 

The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be 
construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people. 

X 

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution 
nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respec¬ 
tively, or to the people. 


CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES lv 


XI 

The Judicial power of the United States shall not be construed to 
extend to any suit in law or equity, commenced or prosecuted against 
one of the United States by Citizens of another State, or by Citizens or 
Subjects of any Foreign State. 


XII 

The Electors shall meet in their respective states, and vote by ballot 
for President and Vice President, one of whom, at least, shall not be 
an inhabitant of the same state with themselves; they shall name in 
their ballots the person voted for as President, and in distinct ballots 
the person voted for as Vice-President, and they shall make distinct 
lists of all persons voted for as President, and of all persons voted for 
as Vice-President, and of the number of votes for each, which lists 
they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the seat of the gov¬ 
ernment of the United States, directed to the President of the Senate; 
— The President of the Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate and 
House of Representatives, open all the certificates and the votes shall 
then be counted ; — The person having the greatest number of votes for 
President, shall be the President, if such number be a majority of the 
whole number of electors appointed; and if no person have such 
majority, then from the persons having the highest numbers not 
exceeding three on the list of those voted for as President, the House 
of Representatives shall choose immediately, by ballot, the President. 
But in choosing the President, the votes shall be taken by states, the 
representation from each state having one vote; a quorum for this 
purpose shall consist of a member or members from two-thirds of the 
states, and a majority of all the states shall be necessary to a choice. 
And if the House of Representatives shall not choose a President 
whenever the right of choice shall devolve upon them, before the 
fourth day of March next following, then the Vice-President shall act 
as President, as in the case of the death or other constitutional dis¬ 
ability of the President. The person having the greatest number of 
votes as Vice-President, shall be Vice-President, if such number be a 
majority of the whole number of electors appointed, and if no person 
have a majority, then from the two highest numbers on the list, the 
Senate shall choose the Vice-President; a quorum for the purpose 
shall consist of two-thirds of the whole number of senators, and a 


lvi 


CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES 


majority of the whole number shall be necessary to a choice. But no 
person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be 
eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States. 

XIII 

Section i. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a 
punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, 
shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their juris¬ 
diction. 

Section 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by 
appropriate legislation. 

XIV 

Section i. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and 
subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and 
of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any 
law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the 
United States: nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, 
or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within 
its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. 

Section 2. Representatives shall be apportioned among the several 
states according to their respective numbers, counting the whole num¬ 
ber of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. But when 
the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President 
and Vice President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, 
the Executive and Judicial officers of a State, or the members of the 
Legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such 
State, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, 
or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other 
crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the pro¬ 
portion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole 
number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State. 

Section 3. No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Con¬ 
gress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, 
civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, 
having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an 
officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, 
or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Con¬ 
stitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or 


CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES lvii 


rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies 
thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, 
remove such disability. 

Section 4. The validity of the public debt of the United States, 
authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions 
and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall 
not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any State shall 
assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or 
rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or eman¬ 
cipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall 
be held illegal and void. 

Section 5. The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appro¬ 
priate legislation, the provisions of this article. 

XV 

Section i. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall 
not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on 
account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. 

Section 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article 
by appropriate legislation. 

XVI 

The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, 
from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the 
several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration. 

XVII 

Section i. The Senate of the United States shall be composed of 
two Senators from each State, elected by the people thereof, for six 
years; and each Senator shall have one vote. The electors in each 
State shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most 
numerous branch of the State Legislatures. 

Section 2. When vacancies happen in the representation of any 
State in the Senate, the executive authority of said State shall issue 
writs of election to fill such vacancies: Provided, that the Legislature 
of any State may empower the executive thereof to make temporary 
appointments until the people fill the vacancies by election as the 
Legislature may direct. 

Section 3. This amendment shall not be so construed as to affect 
the election or term of any Senator chosen before it becomes valid as a 
part of the Constitution. 




















































* 




































































































































































































INDEX 


For convenience in reference and topical study, this history is fully indexed, 
with cross references. 


Ab'bey, Edwin, 386. 

‘ABC’ conference, 415. 

A ber crom'bie, General, 118. 

Ab o li'tion ists, 191, 266, 267, 270, 
271, 272. 

Aca'dia, 106, 108, 113, 117, 118, 
244. 

Acts of Trade, see trade laws. 

Ad'ams, President John, 146, 193- 
195, 206, 208, 236, 237, 243. 

Adams, President John Quincy, 
236-241, 246. 

Adams, Samuel, 126, 127, 132, 135, 
173, 180. 

Ad'dams, Jane, 414. 

ado'be, 7. 

Ad vi'so ry Board, see Federal Ad¬ 
visory Board. 

Af'ri ca, 17, 25, 28, 48, 54, 227. 

Ag'as siz, Louis, 276, 384. 

agricultural education, 379, 404. 
plants, American, 38. 

agriculture, 7, 10, 35, 52, 53, 54, 64, 
65, 81, 82, 92, 93, 102, 111, 112, 
190,197, 198, 199, 201, 268, 288, 
330, 351, 363, 379, 380, 381, 392, 
396, 404. 

inventions affecting, 190, 201, 248, 
379, 381. 

Agriculture, Department of, 379. 

A gui nal'do, 376. 

air travel, 406, 417. 

A1 a ba'ma, 231, 233, 280, 284, 296, 
373, 388. 

Alabama , cruiser, 293, 342. 

Alabama Claims, 341, 342. 

Al'a mance, battle of, 132. 

Al'a mf), 255. 

A Ios'ka, 233, 253, 254, 338, 367, 
368, 375, 377, 388. 

Al ba ny, 153, 215, 238. 


Al'be marie settlement, 81, 95. 
Albemarle Sound, 81. 

Al'gfers, 210, 227. 

Algon'quin (kin) Indians, 11, 39, 
41, 50, 105, 106. 

Al'ien Act, 194, 195, 241, 245, 281. 
Al'legfteny Mountains, 103, 105, 
114, 123, 161, 192, 199, 230. 
Allegheny River, 114, 116. 
Amendments to the Constitution, 
177, 180, 183. 

Fifteenth, 339, 310. 
first ten, 184. 

Fourteenth, 336, 337, 340. 
Seventeenth, 412. 

Sixteenth, 412. 

Thirteenth, 328, 333, 335, 337,340. 
Twelfth, 195. 

A mer' i ca, see North America and 
South America. 

America, origin of name, 25. 
American party, 272. 

American republic, 175-263. 

A me ri' go Yes puc' ci (poot che), 
see Vespucci. 

Am' fterst, 119. 

A' mund sen, Roald, 405. 
an aes thet' ics, discovery of, 267. 
an'ar chists, 357, 390. 

Ap' derson, Major Robert, 286. 

An' dr6, Major John, or An dri , 166. 
An' dros, Sir Edmund, 89, 90. 
animals of North America, 4, 5. 
annexation, of Hawaii, 365, 375, 377. 

of Texas, 255, 256, 259, 377. 

| An tie' tarn, battle of, 307, 308. 

An' ti-Fed' er al ists, 180. 
anti-liquor laws, 111, 257, 346, 398, 
399. 

Anti-rent Riots, 253. 

I Anti-Saloon League, 399. 

lix 




lx 


INDEX 


Anti-slavery party, 267. 
anti-slavery societies, 191, 266. 
anti-trust laws, 360, 396, 401, 408, 
412. 

Appalach'i an Mountains, 2, 4, 135, 
214, 291, 315. 

Appomat'tox, surrender at, 327. 
arbitration, 342, 343, 365, 366, 376, 

391, 407. 

treaties, 407, 415. 
architecture, 96, 202, 347, 387. 
Argentina, 415. 
ar'id region, 3, 4, 251, 265, 392. 

Ar i zo'na, 8, 29, 263, 274, 407, 413. 
Arkansas, 209, 247, 287, 296, 314. 
Arkansas River, 103. 

Ar'ling ton, 416. 

Arma/da, Spanish, 34, 38, 41, 44. 
Army of Northern Virginia, 319. 

of the Potomac, 312, 319. 

Ar'nold, Benedict, 144, 154, 155, 
. 164, 165, 166, 169. 

art, 202, 234, 347, 386, 387. 

Ar'thur, Chester A., 352-354. 
Articles of Confederation, 172, 177. 
A'sia(shia), 14, 15, 17, 20, 103, 
375. 

Assembly, First General, at James¬ 
town, 53, 54, 398. 

At lan'ta, 322, 323, 365. 

At lan'tic cable, 274. 

Ocean, 22, 23, 105, 106, 238, 380, 

392. 

Azt'dubon, John James, 277, 384. 
Australian ballot system, 360, 361. 
Aws'tri a, 417. 

authors, American, 99, 135, 204, 
205, 274-277, 385, 386. 
a vi a'tion, 406. 

‘back lands,’ 172, 173. 

Ba'con, Nathaniel, 83, 84. 

Bacon’s Rebellion, 83, 84. 

Ba ha'ma Islands, 22. 
balance of power between sections, 
232, 263, 277. 

Bal bo'a, 26, 32. 

ballot, 336, 360. See also suffrage, 
voters and voting. 

Baltimore, first Lord, 74, 75. 

second Lord, 75, 76, 78, 88. 

Bal'ti more, Maryland, 223, 256. 
Ban'croft, George, 276, 385. 


Bank of United States, 185, 226, 
240, 247, 251, 252. 
banks, national, 330, 411. 
reserve, 411. 
state, 247, 411. 
barbarous Indians, 8-12. 

Bar'bary States, war with, 210, 
211, 220, 227. 

Par'nard, Henry, 257. 

Bar'ry, John, 143, 144. 

Bar'ton, Clara, 413. 

4 battle above the clouds,’ 318. 

‘ battle of the boys,’ 320. 

Bay Psalm Book , 98. 

Bear Flag Republic, 261. 

Beau're gard (bo), General P. G. T., 
262, 291, 297. 

beginnings of American history, 
1-35. 

Be'mis’s Heights, 155. 

Ben'ning ton, battle of, 153. 
Berkeley, Lord John, 81. 

Berkeley, Sir William, 83, 84. 

4 big business,’ see trusts. 

Big Horn River, 347. 

‘Billion Dollar Congress,’ 361. 

Bill of Rights, 145. 

bi'son or buffalo, 5, 30, 213, 214. 

Blackbeard-, pirate, 107. 

Black Hawk War, 244. 

Black Hills, 347. 

Bland Silver Act, 350, 360. 
blockade, 224, 290, 300, 308, 309, 
318. 

runners, 300, 324. 
blockhouses, 65, 96. 

4 bloody angle,’ 320. 

4 Bloody Monday,’ 279. 

Blue Ridge Mountains, 109. 

Board of Trade, 90. 

Board'man, Mabel, 413. 

Bonaparte, see Napoleon. 

Bon Homme Bichard (bo nom' 
r8shar'), ship, 162. 

Boone, Daniel, 136. 

Booth, John Wilkes, 332. 
border states in War of Secession, 
287. 

Bos'ton, 62, 66, 99, 132, 133, 134, 
137,138, 139, 141, 142, 143, 144, 
145, 199, 204, 210, 293, 343, 345. 
4 Boston Massacre,’ 132. 

Boston Port Bill, 133, 134. 



INDEX 


lxi 


‘ Boston Tea Party,’ 133. 
boundary, Confederate, 291. 
disputes about, 233, 253, 254, 
259, 271, 338, 369. 

Bow quet'(ka), Colonel Henry, 123. 
Box'ers, 376. 

Br£d'dock, General Edward, 116, 
117. 

Braddock's defeat, 116, 117. 
Bradford, William, 99. 

Br&gg, General Braxton, 261, 315, 
317, 318, 322. 

Bran'dy wine, battle of, 155, 156, 
158, 229. 

Brant, Joseph, 153. 

Brat'tle bo ro, 61. 

‘ brave,’ 9, 244. 

Bra zil', 415. 
bread riots, 250. 

Breed’s Hill, 141, 142. 

British East India Company, 133. 
British Guiana, see Guiana. 

Brock, General Isaac, 218. 

‘ Brothers of the Coast,’ 106. 

Brown, General Jacob, 222. 

Brown, John, 278. See John 
Brown's raid. 

Bry'an, William Jennings, 369, 376, 
400, 415. 

Bry'ant, William Cullen. 205, 235, 
274, 385. 

Bnch an'an, James, 273-285. 

Bu'ell, General Don Carlos, 294, 
297. 

Bue'na Vis ta, battle of, 261. 
buffalo, see bison. 
roads, 213, 214. 

Buffalo, New York, 238, 355, 390. 
Bull Run, see Manassas. 

Bun'ker Hill, 141. 

battle of, 141, 142, 150, 233. 
Bur'gess es, House of, see House of 
Burgesses. 

Burgoyne', General John, 140. 153, 
154, 155, 156, 172. 

Burke, Edmund, 130. 

Burn'side, General Ambrose, 308, 
312. 

Bftrr, Aaron, 195. 

Bush'y Run, battle of, 123. 

Bht'ler, General Benjamin F., 300, 
310. 

Byrd, Colonel William, 204. 


Cabinet, president’s, 184, 242, 379, 
395. 

Ca'ble, George W., 386. 

Cab'ot, John, 18, 23, 24, 35, 74. 
Cabot, Sebastian, 24. 

Cal hown', John C., 227, 228, 240, 
241, 246, 247, 267, 268, 269. 
California, 33, 261, 263, 265, 266, 
269, 272, 274. 347, 367, 399, 
413. 

C&l'vert, Cecil, see Baltimore, sec¬ 
ond Lord. 

Calvert, George, see Baltimore, first 
Lord. 

Calvert, Leonard, 75. 

Cambridge, Massachusetts, 142. 
Cam'den, battle of, 164. 
campaign of 1777, 152-158. 

‘camps of concentration,’ 366. 
Can'ada, 31, 47, 102, 103, 113, 122, 
144, 145, 153, 173, 209, 217, 
218, 221, 222, 223, 253, 267, 293. 
canals, 240, 405. See also Erie 
Canal and Panama Canal. 
Canal Zone, 394. 
canoes, 8. 

capital and labor, contests between, 
350, 351, 389, 391. 
capital of United States, 183, 206. 
car'a vels of Columbus, 20. 
Carneg'ie, Andrew, 389. 

Car o la'na, 31, 81. 

Car o li'na, 81, 82, 95, 105, 110. See 
North Carolina and South Car¬ 
olina. 

Car'olus, 81. 

carpetbaggers, 340, 341. 

carpetbag governments, 340, 341, 

346, 348, 349. 

Car'teret, Sir George, 81. 

Cartier' (tya), Jacques (zhak), 30, 

31. 

Ca taw'ba River, 168. 

Cathay', 15, 19, 22. 
caucus, 126. 

Cem'e tery Ridge, 313. 
census, 131, 196, 199, 351, 378, 402, 
403. See also population. 

Cen tSn ni al Exhibition of 1876, 346, 

347. 

Cer'ro GCr'do, battle of, 262. 
Cerve'ra (ther), Admiral Pascual, 
372, 374. 





lxii 


INDEX 


Cham'bers burg, Pennsylvania, 322. 
Champlain', Samuel cle, 39, 41, 50, 
105. 

Champlain, Lake, 41, 116, 145, 153, 
218, 221, 223. 

Ch&n'cel lors ville, battle of, 312, 319. 
changes made in North America by 
man, 5. 

Chapul te pec', battle of, 262. 
Charles I., king of England, 62, 63, 
67, 76, 77, 128. 

Charles II., king of England, 78, 80, 
81, 84, 86, 89. 

Charles IX., king of France, 31. 81. 
Charles River, 62. 

Oharles'ton, South Carolina, 82, 108, 
133, 148, 149, 150, 163, 169. 199, 
246, 286, 292, 324, 325. 
Charles'town Heights, 141. 
charter colonies, 114. 
charter oak, 90. 

charters, of colonies, 63, 55, 62, 63, 
67, 71, 76, 79, 86, 89, 90. 

Chase, Salmon P., 270. 

Chase, William, 287. 

Chat'ham, Earl of, see Pitt. 

Chat ta noo'ga, 296, 298, 315, 317, 
318, 322. 

Cher'o kee Indians, 244. 

Cher'ry Valley, 159. 

Ches'apeake, frigate, 220. 
Chesapeake Bay, 43, 46, 154, 170, 
290, 302. 

ghi ca'go, 345, 364, 365, 381, 392. 
Chick a hom'i ny River, 303. 

Chick a maw'ga, battle of, 315. 

Valley, 317. 
chief, Indian, 11. 

Children’s Bureau, 414. 

Chl'le, 415. 

Chil'koot Pass, 368. 

Chi'na, 15, 271, 376, 415. 

Chinese immigrants excluded, 356. 
Chlp'pe wa, battle of, 222. 

Chris ti'na fort, 74. 
church at Jamestown 44, 56. 

Church of England, 57, 58, 74, 76, 
77, 78. 

Church'ill, Winston, 386 
Chy rubus'co, battle of, 262. 
gi p&n'go, 15, 19. 

cities, 197, 344, 345, 360, 378, 379, 
403. 


cities, growth of, 344, 378, 403, 412, 
413, 414. 

civil service reform, 353, 355. 
clan, Indian, 11. 

Clark, George Rogers, 159, 160, 161, 
173. 

Clark, William, 210. 

Clay, Henry, 227, 228, 236, 246, 247, 
256, 268, 269, 270. 

Clay'borne, William, 75, 78. 
Clay'ton Anti-trust Bill, 412. 
Clem'ens, Samuel (‘ Mark Twain ‘), 
386. 

Cler'mbnt , steamboat, 215. 
Cleveland, President Grover, 35lr- 
358, 361, 362-369, 370. 
climate of North America, 3, 4. 
Clin'ton, Sir Henry, 140, 156, 158, 
159, 164, 170, 172. 
coal, 4, 95, 274, 338, 363, 379, 
391. 

coast line of North America, 1, 2. 
coins and coinage, 53, 78, 86, 178, 
184, 329, 344, 350, 351, 362, 
369. 

Cold Harbor, battle of, 321. 
colleges, 66, 98, 203, 383. 
colonial assemblies, 53, 54, 100, 124, 
126. 

discontent, 124-136. 
growth, 76-82, 110. 
life, 91-101. 
trade, 124, 125, 131. 
colonies, American, in 1608, 47. 
at end of seventeenth centurv, 
91-101. 

to states, 124-174. 

Col 6 ratio, 209, 263, 274, 347, 404, 
413. 

Columbia, District of, see District 
of Columbia. 

Co lum'bi a, South Carolina, 325, 
Columbia River, 2, 210. 

Colum'bus, Christopher, 18-22, 24, 
25, 30, 375. 

Commerce, Department of, 395. 
commission government, 376, 397, 
413, 414" 

Committees of Correspondence, 132, 
133, 134. 

common stock system, 44, 52, 60. 
Commons, House of, see House of 
Commons. 




INDEX 


lxiii 




Commonwealth, English, 70, 77, 78, 
79. 

Com'pro mise, Missouri, see Mis¬ 
souri Compromise. 

Compromise of 1833, 240, 253. 
Compromise of 1850, 208, 209, 270. 
compromises in the Constitution, 

179, 180, 389. 

Con'cord, fight at, 138, 139. 

Con fed'er ate monument at Arling¬ 
ton, 410, 417. 

Confederate states, 284, 287, 290, ! 
291, 292. 

Con fed er a/tion, 172, 175. 

Articles of, 172, 177. 

Congress, Stamp Act, 128, 129. 
Continental, 134, 139, 140, 152, 
104, 105, 100, 172. 
during reconstruction period, 330, 

337, 338, 349. 

of United States, 178, 179, 180, 
181, 183, 184, 185, 194, 195, 227, 
232, 234, 240, 247, 252, 250, 200, 
208, 209, 311, 328, 335, 330, 337, * 

338, 339, 343, 348, 349, 353, 301, | 
302, 303, 371, 370, 392, 400, 402, 
412. 

powers of, 178, 183, 247, 281, 337, j 
338, 349. 

Congress, frigate, 301. 

Con gres'sion al plan of reconstruc¬ 
tion, 336, 337, 340. 

Con nect'i cut, 68, 71, 79, 89, 90, 98, j 
114, 190, 204, 205, 224, 257, 278. 
conservation of national resources, 
369, 391, 392, 396. 

Con stan ti no'ple, taken by Turks, 
15. 

Constitution of Confederate States, 
284. 

of United States, 177-181, 184, 
185, 195, 204, 205, 207, 231, 239, 
240, 244, 245, 247, 207, 269, 270, 
271, 278, 280, 281, 283, 284, 310, 
311,328,339,343,349,303. See 
also Amendments. 

Constitution , frigate, 220. 
Constitutional convention, 176- 

180. 

Constitutional Union party, 279. 
continent of North America, 1-5. 
Con ti nent'al army, 139, 142, 143, 
173. 


congress, see Congress , Continental. 
money, 152, 100. 
navy, 143, 144. 

contraband of war, 189, 310, 323. 
Con tre'ras, battle of, 262. 
Convention, Hartford, 224. 
of 1787, 176, 177, 180. 

Virginia, of 1775, 134. 
of 1770, 145. 

CSn'way cabal, 167. 
cooking stove, invention of, 249. 
Coop'er, James Fenimore, 205, 235, 
274, 385. 

Cop'ley, John, 202. 
copper, 274, 343, 379. 

Cor dll'le ra Mountains, 2, 4, 262. 
Cor'inth, Mississippi, 297, 298. 
corn, Indian, 4, 38, 51, 00, 04, 75, 
81, 96, 197, 198, 199, 351, 379. 
Cornwal'lis, General Charles, 150, 
151, 104, 107, 108, 169,170, 172, 
173. 

Corona'do (tho), 28, 29, 30, 30, 
404. 

corporations, 350. See also trusts. 
cotton, 190, 191, 197, 199, 213, 220, 
230, 240. 255, 288, 290, 300, 351, 
300, 363. 379, 403, 404, 410, 418. 
gin, 190, 191, 201. 

Cotton, John, 66. 

Cotton States, 280. 
coureurs' debois (bwa), 105. 
Cow'pens, battle of, 167. 

Cra/ter, the, 321. 

Cre di£' Mo biZ ier' (ya), 343. 

Creek Indians, 217, 244. 

War, 244. 

‘ Crime of ’73,’ 344. 

Cro a toan', 38. 

Crom'well, Oliver, 77, 78, 79, 128. 
Crown Point, 140. 

Cu'ba, 22, 306, 370, 371, 374, 375, 
376, 397. 

Cu le' bra Cut, 394. 

Cum'ber land , frigate, 301. 
Cumberland Gap, 238, 291. 

River, 294. 

Road, 214, 230. 

currency, 53, 73, 70, 160, 247, 350, 
300, 362, 369, 370, 401, 408, 410. 
See also coins and coinage and 
paper money. 

Curtiss, Glenn, 406. 










lxiv 


INDEX 


Cus'ter, General George A., 347. 
cus'toms of eighteenth century, 205. 
Czol'gosz (cliol gftsli), Leon, 390. 

Da Ga'ma, 25. 

Dako'ta, 347, 381. See also North \ 
Dakota and South Dakota. 

Dale, Sir Thomas, 52, 53. 

Dan River, 168. 

Dan'ville, Virginia, 326. 

Dare, Virginia, 38. 

‘dark and bloody ground,’ 199. 
Darkness, Sea of, 17, 20, 22. 

Da'vis, Jefferson, 261. 263, 270, 284, 
287, 333. 

debt, national, 185. See war debts, j 
debtors, laws about, 110, 111, 205. 1 
257. 

decimal currency, 184. 

Declaration of Independence, 146, 
172, 237, 238, 346, 388. 
Declaration of Neutrality, 189. 
Declaration of Rights, 134. 

Decrees, French, 211, 216, 217, 229. 
De land', Margaret, 386. 

De la Salle, see La Salle. 

Del 7 a ware, 74, 87, 110, 114, 223. 
Delaware Indians, 75. 

Delaware, Lord, 51, 52. 

Delaware River, 59, 74, 79, 86, 87, 
150, 151, 158, 202. 

De Leon', Pon'ce (tha), 26. 
Demarkation, Line of, 23. 

Democratic party, and Democrats, 
239, 240, 252, 256, 273, 279, 348, 
354, 358, 361, 369, 400. 
Democratic-Republican party, 185, 
186, 195, 208, 230, 235, 239, 357. 
Department, see State , War, Treas¬ 
ury , etc. 

departments of government, 178, 179. 
De So'to, Hernando, 28, 29, 36, 404. i 
De Tocque'ville (tok'vil), 247. 
Detroit', Michigan, 160, 217, 218, 
221 , 222 . 

De Va'ca, Cabe'za (tha), 28. 
Dew'ey, Admiral George, 371, 376. 
Dingley Tariff Act, 370, 402. 
Dinwld'die, Governor Robert, 114, 
115. 

Discovery , ship, 43. 
dissenters, 68, 69, 76. 

District of Columbia, 206, 269. 


Dix, Dorothea, 257. 
domestic animals, 4, 5, 10, 65, 92. 
Don'el son, Fort, 294, 296. 
Ddr'chester Heights, 141, 144. 
Dorr’s Rebellion, 253. 

Doug'las, Stephen A., 272, 280. 
Do'ver, New Hampshire, 61. 
Downing, A. J., 387. 

Draft Acts, 312. 

Draft Riots, 312. 

Drake, Sir Francis, 32, 33. 

Dred Scott case, see Scott. 
dress, 96, 201. 
dugouts, 8. 

Du Quesne' (kan), Fort, 116, 117, 
119. 

Dutch East India Company, 48, 72. 
explorations and settlement, 48- 
51, 72-74, 78, 79. 
settlers, 73. 

West India Company, 72. 

Dwight, Timothy, 135. 
dy'na mite, 382. 

Eads, jetties, 351. 

Ear'ly, General Jubal A., 321, 322. 
earthquake, California, 399. 
earth’s shape, beliefs about, 17, 18, 
20 . 

East India Company, see British and 
Dutch East India Company. 
East Jer'sey, 81, 110. 

Ed'ison, Thomas A., 384. 
education, 56, 66, 97, 203, 237, 238, 
w 257, 382, 383, 397. 

Ed'wards, Jonathan, 204. 

Elastic Clause of Constitution, 185, 
240. 

El Ca'ney, battle of, 373, 374. 

El Do ra'do, 26. 

elections, presidential, 182, 195, 235, 
236, 252, 256, 272, 273, 279, 
347, 348, 354, 358, 361, 369, 
376, 396, 400, 408. 

Electoral Commission of 1876, 348. 
Electoral Count Act, 355, 356. 
electricity, uses of, 186, 256, 353, 
381, 382, 384. 
electric lights, 381. 

_ railways, 353, 381. 

El'i ot, John, 94, 95. 

E liz'a beth, queen of England, 33. 
37, 138. 








INDEX 


lxv 


E man ci pa'tion Proclamation, 310, 
311, 328. 

Em bar'go Act, 212, 213, 226, 229. 
Em'erson, Ralph W., 275, 385. 
England, 23, 24, 34, 36, 38, 57, 76, 
77, 78, 79, 89, 90, 106, 238, 290, 
293, 398, 403. See also Great 
Britain. 

English colonies in America, 36- 
101, 102, 105. 

English contests with France, 102- 
123. See also Great Britain. 
English discoveries and explora¬ 
tions, 23, 24, 36, 37, 38, 41, 42. 
Era of good feeling, 230. 

Er'ics son, Captain John, 301. 

Erie, New York, 114, 222. 

Erie, battle of Lake, 222. 

Erie Canal, 238. 
w Lake, 105, 114, 221, 222. 

Er'ik son, Leif, 13. 
ether used as anaesthetic, 257. 
I?u/rope in the Middle Ages, 14-18. 
Europe, wars of early nineteenth 
century, 211, 223, 229. 
wars of twentieth century, 417, 
418. 

European ignorance of America, 1,5. 
Eu'tavv Springs, battle of, 168. 
exchange of prisoners in War of 
Secession, 311. 
ex ec'u tive department, 178. 
expenses of government, 400, 401. 
explorations in United States, 28, 
29, 30, 35, 102, 103, 404. 
explorers, early, 26-35. 
exports, 54, 60, 93, 190, 197. 

factories, 226, 288, 290, 351. 

Fair Oaks, battle of. See Seven 
Pines. 

families, Indian, 11. 
farming, see agriculture. 

FSr'ra gut, Commodore David G., 
298, 300, 324, 371. 

‘ father of American navy,’ 143. 

‘ father of Constitution,’ 177, 215. 
Fear, Cape, 42. 

federal plan of Constitution, 177. 
Federal Advisory Board, 411. 
Reserve Act, 410, 411. 

Reserve Banks, 411. 

Reserve Board, 412. 


Federalist, 180, 204. 

Federalist party and Federalists, 
180, 185, 186, 195, 208, 209, 217, 
240, 357. 

Federation of Labor, 350. 

Fel'lows, A. L., 404. 

Fer'di nand, king of Spain, 20. 
Fer'gu son, Major Patrick, 166. 
Field, Cyrus W., 274. 

“ Fifty-four forty or fight,” 254. 

Fil i pi'nos, 376. 

Fill'more, Millard, 269, 270. 
financial affairs, 151, 152, 165, 166, 
175, 184, 185, 330, 344, 350, 
351, 362, 363. See also debt, 
tariff , etc. 

firearms, 41, 61, 382, 417. 
fish and fisheries, 5, 7, 9, 23, 24, 39, 
51, 60, 61, 64, 92, 102, 103. 
338, 407. 

Fisher, Fort, 324. 

Fiske, John, 386. 

Fitch, John, 202. 

Five Nations, 12, 41, 109. 
flag of United States, 153, 154. 
flintlock guns, 61, 138. 

Flor'i da, 26, 28, 31, 36, 44, 47, 80. 
Ill, 122, 233, 244, 254, 280, 348, 
349, 377, 392. 

Florida Purchase, 233, 377. 
flying machines, 406, 417. 
food, 44, 45, 46, 60, 64, 65, 75, 91 # 
^ 96, 200. 

Foote, Commodore Andrew II., 294. 
foreign policy of United States, 189, 
192, 233, 234. 

foreigners aiding Americans in War 
of Revolution, 157. 
forest reserves, 369, 391, 392, 396. 
forests, 4, 5, 82, 392, 396. 
forts, French, 108, 109, 112, 113. 
Forts : Chris t'i'na, 74. 

Crown Point, 140. 

Don'el son, 294, 296. 

Du Quesne (kan), 116, 117, 119. 
E'rie, 222. 

Fish'er, 324. 

Henry, 294, 296. 

Mims, 217. 

Mpul'trie, 149, 163. 

McHenry, 223, 224. 

Ni Hg'a ra, 119. 

Ne ^es'si ty, 116. 




INDEX 


kvi 


Forts ( continued): 

Oswe'go, 118, 119. 

Pitt, 119. 

Stan'wix, 153, 154. 

Summer, 288, 287. 

Ti con de ro'ga, 118, 119, 140,153. 
William Henry, 118. 

Fortress Mon roe', 301,302, 310, 333. 
Forty Niners, 265, 386. 

Fountain of Youth, 26. 

Fox Indians, 244. 

France, 30, 102, 108, 113, 122, 165, 
172, 175, 194, 208, 209, 211, 213, 
216, 292, 338, 339, 377, 407. 
See also French. 

franchise,see ballot,votersand voting. 
Fran'cis I., king of France, 30. 
Frank'lin, Benjamin, 155, 156, 173, 
176, 180, 186, 187, 203, 204, 205, 
207, 384. 

Franklin, state of, 192. 

Fred'er icks burg, Virginia, 306, 308, 
312, 319. 

battle of, 308, 312. 
free coinage, 344, 369. 

‘free 1 South, 351. 

free states, 231, 232, 263, 266, 267, 
268, 269, 272, 278. 

Freedmen’s Bureau, 336. 
freedom of speech, 195. 

Free'man, Mary Wilkins, 386. 
Fremont', Captain John C., 261. 
French alliance with United States, 
156, 158, 170. 

French and Indian War, see War , 
French and Indian. 

French Creek, 114. 

French, Daniel C., 387. 
French-English contest, 103-123, 
196, 277. 

French explorers and settlers, 30, 31, 
39, 41, 47, 102-105, 108, 109, 

113. 

in American Revolution, 170. 
unfriendly relations with United 
States, 188, 193, 194, 211, 213, 
216. 

French Panama Canal Company, 
393, 394. 

French republic, 188. 

French Revolution, 188, 234. 
Freneau' (no), Philip, 135. 
friction matches, 248. 


Friends, see Quakers. 
fuel, 95, 200. 

Fugitive Slave Law, 267, 269, 270, 
280, 283. 

Ful'ton, Robert, 214, 215. 
furniture, 95, 96, 200. 
fur trade, 39, 41, 50, 60, 61, 72, 73, 
83, 93, 102, 105, 126, 136, 197, 
200, 338. 

Gads'den Purchase, 271, 377. 

Gage, General Thomas, 133,137,138. 
Gal'veston, Texas, 413. 

‘game cock, 1 164. 

Gar'field, President James A., 352, 
353. 

Gar'ri son, William Lloyd, 267, 270. 
Gas pee' , schooner, 132. 

Gates, General Horatio, 155, 157, 
164. 

Gates, Sir Thomas, 52, 53. 

Ga'tun Dam, 394. 

Ge net'(zhe na), Citizen Edmond, 
188. 

Gen'o a, 15, 18, 19. 

‘gentleman’ colonists, 43, 47. 
George II., king of Great Britain, 
110 , 112 . 

George III., king of Great Britain, 
128, 131, 133, 148. 

GeCr'gi a, 87, 92, 110, 111, 112, 114, 
118, 135, 140, 163, 164, 169, 181, 
190, 217, 244, 280, 284, 315, 322, 
323, 325, 337. 

German settlers, 87, 91, 114, 258. 
germ theory of disease, 384, 385. 
Ger'man town, battle of, 155,156,229. 
Gettysburg, battle of, 313, 314, 
318. 

Ghent, treaty of, 224. 

Gi'la River (he), 271. 

Gil'bert, Sir Humphrey, 37. 

Gist, 115. 

glass, etc., tax on, 131. 

Glass, Carter, 410. 

Glass-Owen Currency Bill, see Fed¬ 
eral Beserve Act. 

Goe'thals (gu't&lz'), Colonel George, 
394. 

gold and gold mines, 4, 264, 265, 
274, 338, 343, 347, 367, 368,379. 
gold coinage and standard, 344, 351, 
362, 369, 370, 410, 411. 







INDEX 


lxvii 


‘golden age,’ 274, 385. 

Goli ad', Texas, 255. 

Good Speed , ship, 43. 

G6r'gas, Colonel W. C., 394. 
Gdr'ges, Sir Ferdinando, 62, 86. 
government, British during Revolu¬ 
tion, 130, 131. 

colonial, 44, 47, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 
59, 60, 62, 63, 65, 66, 67, 68, 
69, 71, 76, 77, 78, 79, 82, 88, 
90, 100, 101, 114, 124, 125, 126, 
127, 129, 130, 131, 133, 156. 
state, 148, 175, 178, 332, 335, 
337, 346, 361. 

federal, 176-181, 184, 195, 207, 
245, 246, 281, 283. 

Indian, 11. 

governors, colonial, 124, 140. 

Grand Model, 82. 

Grant, General Ulysses S., 225, 
260, 263, 294, 296, 297, 298, 
306, 312, 314, 319, 320, 321, 
322, 325, 326, 327, 332, 335, 
339-348, 350, 353. 

Gray, Asa, 277, 384. 

Great American Desert, 254. 

Great Britain, 108, 112, 116, 148, 
172, 173, 193, 211, 212, 213, 
220, 223, 224, 225, 226, 253, 
259, 281, 292, 293, 415, 417. 
arbitration of disputes with, 342, 
343, 365, 366, 407. 
disputes with colonies, 124-135. 
second war with United States, 
216-226. 

treaties with United States, 173, 
175, 189, 224, 407. 
war with colonies, 137-174. 
great charter, 53. 

Great Divide, 210. 

Great Lakes, 116, 161, 173, 238. 
Great Khan, 15. 

‘great peacemaker,’ 270. 

‘great trio,’ 247, 268. 

‘great white plague,’ 385. 
greenbacks, 330, 351. 

Green Mountain Boys, 140. 

Greene, General Nathanael, 166, 
167, 168, 173, 225. 

Greenland, 13, 92. 

Greensboro, North Carolina, 168. 
Guam (gwam), 375. 

Guer ri ere ', frigate, 220. 


| Gul a'na, British, 365. 
j Guil'ford Courthouse, battle of, 168, 

| Gui teau' (to), Charles Jules, 352. 

| Gulf of Mexico, 2, 103, 105, 113 r 
209. 

St. Lawrence, 31, 112, 220. 

[ Gun'ni son tunnel, 404, 405. 
j Guth'rie, Oklahoma, 358. 

Hague Conference, 376. 
j Hail , Columbia , 194. 
half-civilized Indians, 7. 
i ‘half-faced camps,’ 199, 279. 

I Half Moon , ship, 49. 

Hal'i fax, 145, 149. 

Hal'leck, General Henry W., 294, 
307. 

Ham'il ton, Alexander, 176, 180., 
184, 185, 186, 190, 204, 207. 

Hamp'ton Roads, 301, 302, 303, 325. 
hardships of early colonists, 44, 45, 
46, 47, 59, 60, 64. 

Har'per’s Ferry, 278, 307. 

Har'ri man, Edward II., 389. 
Har'ris, Joel Chandler, 386. 

Har'ri son. President Benjamin, 
358-361. 

Harrison, President William Henry, 
217, 221, 222, 252. 

Harte, Bret, 386. 

Hart'ford, Connecticut, 68, 89. 
Hart'ford Convention, 224, 243. 
Har'vard College, 66, 98, 203. 

Ha van'a, 370. 

Hawal'ian (yan) Islands, 365, 375, 
377. 

Ilaw'thorne, Nathaniel, 275, 385. 
Hayes, Rutherford Birchard, 348, 
349-352. 

Hayne (ban), Paul Hamilton, 276. 
Hay lie, Robert Y., 244, 245, 281. 
Hayne-Webster debate, 244, 245. 
Ilay'ti, 22. 

Henry, Fort, 294, 296. 

Henry, Patrick, 127, 128, 134, 135, 
139, 173, 180. 

Henry the Navigator, Prince, 17. 
Iler'ki mer, General Nicholas, 154. 

‘ hero of Saratoga,’ 164. 

Iles'se, 141. 

J Hes'sian soldiers, 141, 150. 

Hi a wa'tha, 12. 
i Hill, General A. P., 326. 








ixvlii 


INDEX 


historians, American, 235, 276, 277, 
386. 

Hob'kirk’s Hill, battle of, 168. 

Hob'son, Lieut. Richmond P., 373. 

Holland, 165, 175. 
colonies of, 72-74, 78, 79, 80. 
explorations of, 48-51. 

Pilgrims in, 57, 58. 

Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 385. 

Homestead Act, 330. 

Hood, General John B., 323, 324. 

Hook'er, General Joseph, 312, 313. 

Hooker, Reverend Thomas, 66, 68. 

Hdp'kinson, Joseph, 194. 

Horseshoe Bend, battle of, 217. 

House of Burgesses, 54, 83, 127, 
134. 

House of Commons, 130. 

House of Representatives, 130, 178, 
180, 195, 228, 232, 236, 280, 
283, 338, 348, 355, 369, 408. 

Houston, General Sam, 255. 

Howe, Admiral, 149. 

Howe, Elias, 249. 

Howe, General William, 140, 142, 
149, 154, 155, 158. 

How'ells, W. I)., 386. 

Hud'son, Henry, 48, 49, 50, 51, 74. 

Hudson River, 49, 62, 153, 156, 
159, 170. 

Valley, 145, 165. 

Huerta (hwer'ta), Victoriano, 414, 

415. 

Hu'grte nots, 31, 82. 

Hull, Captain Isaac, 220. 

Hull, General William, 218. 

Ice'land, 13. 

Pda ho, 259, 359, 392, 413. 

Illinois', 161, 231, 251, 272, 278, 
279, 296, 413. 

immigrants and immigration, 258, 
268, 330, 356, 357, 378, 403. 

immigration to colonies, 38, 39, 42, 
43, 47, 59, 61, 62, 68, 73, 74, 
77, 82, 87, 113. 

influence on views of Constitu¬ 
tion and Union, 258. 

impeachment of President Johnson, 
337, 338. 

implied powers, 185, 207. 

impressment of American sailors, 
189, 211, 212, 217, 224, 229. 


income tax, 330, 363, 365, 408, 410, 
412. 

indented servants, 94, 98. 
independence, colonies declare for, 
145. 

Independence, Declaration of, 146, 
172. 

Independent Treasury plan, 251. 
‘indestructible union,’ 328. 
Indian'a, 161, 216, 231, 358. 

Indian corn, see corn. 

Indian raids, 83, 85, 106, 107, 117. 

reservations, 6, 244, 347, 388, 392. 
Indian Territory, 244, 358, 399. 
Indian warfare, 11, 44, 85, 106, 107, 
116, 117, 123. 

Indian wars, 109, 217, 347. See 
Fequot War, King Philip's 
War , etc. 

Indians, 5-12, 22, 27, 44, 60, 64, 65, 
69, 71, 83, 84, 85, 88, 105, 106, 
107, 109, 117, 123, 153, 154, 159, 
187, 199, 217, 218, 221, 244, 
265, 358, 388. See also Algon¬ 
quin, Iroquois , Muskhogean , 
and names of tribes. 

Indies, European trade with, 14, 
15, 17, 18, 25. 

Indies, West, 24. 
indigo, 112, 197. 

industries, 92, 93, 111, 197, 379, 
380, 381, 396. 
initiative, 414. 

insane, treatment of, 205, 257. 
insects as disease carriers, 384, 385. 
insurgent Republicans, 402, 407. 
internal improvements, 240. 
Interstate Commerce Act, 356. 
Commerce Commission, 412. 
Trade Commission, 412. 
invasion of South, 291. 
inventions, 186, 190, 201, 202, 248, 
249, 256, 257, 353, 381, 382, 
384. 

I'o wa, 209, 263, 347. 

Irish settlers, 87, 91, 143, 144, 241, 
258. 

iron, 4, 8, 226, 240, 274. 379. 
‘ironclad oath,’ 340, 346. 
ironclad warships, 301, 302. 
iron works, first in America, 56. 
Iroquois' Indians, 11, 12, 41, 49, 
50, 105, 106, 109. 




INDEX 


lxix 


irrigation, 5, 251, 392, 404, 405. 

Irv'ing, Washington, 205, 235, 274, 
385. 

Is a bel'la, queen of Spain, 20. 

I tal'ian seamen, 18, 30. 

Italians control eastern trade, 15. 

Jack' son, General Andrew, 217, 224, 
225, 235, 236, 241-249. 

Jackson, General Thomas J., 292, 
306, 307, 312. 

James River, 43, 48, 51. 

James I., king of England, 41, 43, 
55, 62, 63. 

James II., king of England, 80, 
81, 89, 102. See also York and 
Albany , Duke of. 

James'town, Virginia, 43, 46, 47, 
51, 53, 54, 56, 60, 63, 91, 398. 

Jamestown colony, 43-56, 58, 59, 
87, 91, 398. 

Japan', 15, 271. 

Jas'per, Sergeant, 149. 

Jay, Chief Justice John, 180, 189, 
204. 

Jay’s treaty, 189, 229. 

Jef'ferson, President Thomas, 146, 
173, 184, 185, 186, 190, 195, 206- 
215, 216, 229, 237, 238, 240. 

Jer'seys, 81, 92. See New Jersey. 

jetties, see Eads's jetties. 

Jews, 69, 76. 

John Brown’s Raid, 278, 279, 280. 

John'son, President Andrew, 334- 
339. 

John'ston, General Albert Sidney, 
263, 297. 

John'ston, General Joseph E., 263, 
291, 303, 322, 323, 325, 326, 
327. 

Joliet' (zholya), Louis, 102, 103. 

Jones, John Raul, 143, 144, 161, 
162. 

ju di'ci al department, 178, 179. 

jury, trial by, 68, 184, 195. 

Kalb, Baron, 158, 164. 

Kan'sas, 30, 209, 261, 272, 277, 278, 
413. 

Kansas-Nebraska Bill, 272, 278. 

Kaskas'kia, 160. 

Kear'ny, General Stephen W., 261. 

Ken' ne bee River, 42, 61, 62. 


Kent’s Island, 75. 

Ken tuck'y, 136, 159, 191, 192, 195, 
199, 221, 227, 241, 245, 268, 279, 
284, 287, 291, 292, 359. 
Kentucky Resolutions, 195, 245. 
Key, Francis Scott, 223, 224. 

Khan, Great, 15. 

Kidd, Captain William, 107. 

King George's War, 112, 113. 

King Philip’s War, 84-86. 

King William’s War, 102, 106, 108. 
King’s Mountain, battle of, 166. 
Kitchen Cabinet, 242. 

Klon'dike, 367, 368. 

Know-Nothing party, 273. 

Knox, Henry, 184. 

Koch, Robert, 384. 

Kos cl us'ko, Count Thaddeus, 158. 
Ku Klux Klan, 341. 

labor, 94, 257, 349, 350. 

Labor, Department of, 395. 
labor and vagrancy laws, 335, 336. 
Lab'ra dor, 24. 

La Fargc, John, 387. 

La fay ettef Jean Paul. Marquis de, 
158, 169, 170, 234. 

Lake Champlain, battle of, 223. 
Lake Erie, battle of, 221. 

Lake of the Woods, 259. 

Lang'ley, Samuel P., 406. 

Lamer', Sidney, 276, 385. 

La Salle, Robert de, 103. 

La'throp, Julia, 414. 

Latter Day Saints, see Mormons. 
Law'rence, Captain James, 220. 
laws, 73, 100, 101, 110, 124, 125, 
205, 257, 270, 389. 

La zear', Dr. Jesse, 385. 

Lee, General Charles, 150, 158. 

Lee, ‘ Lighthorse Harry,’ 167, 303. 
Lee, Richard Henry, 146. 

Lee, General Robert E., 225, 262, 
263, 303, 304, 306, 307, 312, 313, 
314, 318, 319, 320, 321, 322, 326, 
327, 329, 332, 335, 340, 416. 
legal tender, 330. 
legislative department, 178. 

Letf the Lucky, see Erikson. 
Lcis'ler, Jacob, 90. 

Leon, see De Leon. 

Lew'is, Meriwether, 210. 

Lewis and Clark expedition, 210. 






lxx 


INDEX 


Lex'ington, battle of, 137, 138, 139, 
140. 

Lib’er a tor , 267. 

lighting, inodes of, 381. 

Lin'coin, President Abraham, 279, 
280, 284, 285-333, 334, 335, 336, 
337. 

Lincoln, General Benjamin, 155, 
163, 164. 

literature, 98, 99, 135, 204, 234, 235, 
274, 275, 276, 277, 385, 386. 

Little Bell , frigate, 217. 

local option, 272. 

locomotives, see steam engine. 

London Company, 42, 43, 63. 

* Lone Star State, 1 255. 

Long, Dr. Crawford, 257. 

Long'fel low, Henry W., 274, 385. 

* long houses, 1 12. 

Long Island, 42. 

battle of, 149. 

Lookout Mountain, 317. 
battle of, 318. 

lords proprietors, 81, 82, 110. 114. 

‘ Lost Cause, 1 328, 333. 

Lost Colony, 38. 

Lou'is XIV., 103. 

Lou'Isburg, Canada, 112, 113, 119. 

Lou l si a'na, 209, 216, 232, 233, 280, 
292, 298, 314, 340, 348, 349. 

Louisiana Territory, 103, 122, 173, 
200, 208,209, 216, 232, 245, 262, 
377. 

Lou'is ville, Kentucky, 298. 

Loio'ell, James R., 275, 385. 

Loyalists in Commonwealth period, 
77. 

Loyalists in Revolution, 140. See 
Tories. 

Lu'cas, Eliza, 112. 

lumber and lumbering, 92, 93, 351, 
379, 392. 

Lun'dy’s Lane, battle of, 222. 

Lynch'burg, Virginia, 326. 

M&e don'ongh, Commodore Thomas, 
223. 

machinery, use of, 248, 249, 379, 381. 

Macmon'nies, Frederick, 387. 

Mcld'ison, Dolly, 216. 

Madison, President Janies, 77, 176, 
177, 180, 190, 204, 215-228, 229. 

Mad'ras, India, 113. 


Ma gel'lan, Ferdinand, 26, 27. 
Magellan, Strait of, 26. 
mail service. 265, 266, 382. 

Maine, 61, 62, 78, 86, 89, 90, 105, 
118, 135, 144, 223, 231, 232, 253, 
257, 392. 

Maine liquor law, 257. 

Maine , battleship, 370. 
maize, 47. See corn. 

Man&s'sas, first battle of, 291, 292, 

306. 

second battle of, 307. 

Man hat'tan Island, 50, 73. 

Manll'a, Philippine Islands, 371, 
374. 

battle of, 371, 372. 

Mann, Horace, 257. 
manufactures, 125, 197, 213, 226, 

240, 268, 290, 330, 360, 362, 379. 
Marco'ni, 399. 

mariner’s compass, 17. 

Mar'i on, General Francis, 164, 167, 

241. 

Mark Twain, see Clemens. 
Marquette' (ket), Father, 102, 103. 
Mar'shall, John, 77, 206, 207, 281. 
Mary, queen of England, 90. 

Ma'ry land (mer), 75, 76, 78, 87, 92, 
93, 101, 136, 172, 214, 239, 287, 

307. 

Mason, James M., 292, 293. 

Mason, John, 62. 

Mason and Dixon’s line, 87, 231. 
Massachusetts, 59, 62, 67, 68, 69, 
71, 76, 78, 86, 87, 90, 98, 106, 
113, 114, 125, 128, 131, 132. 133, 
134, 173, 176, 184, 193, 202, 224, 
226, 257, 267, 268, 290. 
Massachusetts Bay colony, 62-67, 
68, 69, 71, 76. 

Company, 62, 63, 67. 

Massacre of 1622, 54, 55. 
Massasoit', 60, 85. 
matchlock guns, 61. 

Maw'ry, Matthew Fontaine, 274,277, 
384. 

3fayflower, ship, 59, 60. 

McClel'lan, General George, 263, 
292, 302, 303, 304, 306, 307, 308. 
McCor'mick, Cyrus, 248. 

McDow'ell, General Irvin, 291, 306, 
307. 

McHenry, Fort, 223, 224. 





INDEX 


lxxi 


McKini', Charles, 387. 

McKin'ley, President William, 369," 
370-377, 390. 

McKinley Tariff Act, 360. 

Meade, General George, 313. 

Meck'len burg County, North Caro¬ 
lina, 145. 

medicine, 100, 187, 204, 288, 300, 
311, 324, 384, 398. 

Med i ter ra'ne an Sea, 14. 

Mem'phis, Tennessee, 294, 297. 

Merit System, 353. 

Merrimac, ironclad, 300, 301, 302. 

Merrimac River, 62. 

Methodist church, 111. 

Mex'i can cession, 262, 263,269, 330. 

Mex'i co, 25, 27, 32, 36, 251, 253, 
254, 255, 258, 338, 339, 414, 
415. 

Mexico, city, 262. 

Gulf of, see Gulf of Mexico. 

Mi§h'igan, 161, 221, 231, 247. 

Middle Ages, 14. 

Middle Colonies, 72-76, 114. 

Middle States, 156, 159, 174, 197, 
204, 213. 

Miles, Major General Nelson A., 
374. 

military government of South, 337. 

“Millions for defense,” 194. 

Mims, Fort, 217. 

mine, see Crater, 321. 

mineral resources of North America, 
4. 

mines, see gold, silver, iron, etc. 

ministers in New England colonies, 
65, 66, 68, 69. 

Min ne so'ta, 161, 209, 277, 278, 
347. 

mint in Massachusetts colony, 78. 

Min'u it, Peter, 73, 74. 

minutemen, 135, 139. 

missionaries, French, 102, 105. 

Mis'sion a ry Ridge, 317. 
battle of, 318. 

missionary societies, 252. 

Mis sissip'pi, 231, 233, 261, 270, 280, 
284, 296, 297, 340, 351. 

River, 3, 29, 103, 105, 108, 113, 
114, 135, 161, 173, 189, 209, 224. 
230, 232, 243, 244. 265, 291, 294, 
297, 298, 300, 314; 351, 384, 392. 
Valley, 4, 103, 209. 


Missouri, 209, 231, 232, 265, 278, 
287, 291, 292, 296, 297. 
Compromise, 232, 266, 271, 272, 
278. 

River, 209, 210, 230, 392. 

Mo bile', Alabama, 217, 324, 371. 

Bay, battle of, 324. 

Mo'doc War, 347. 

Mo hawk Indians, 153. 

River, 153. 

Valley, 153. 

Mo li'na del Rey, battle of, 262. 
money, see coins and coinage, cur¬ 
rency, and paper money. 

Mon'i tor, ironclad, 300, 301, 302. 
Mon'mouth, battle of, 158, 229. 

Mon roe', Fortress, 301, 302,310,333. 
Monroe, President James, 77, 229- 
236, 239. 

Monroe Doctrine, 233, 234, 338, 366, 
414. 

Mon ta'na, 209, 259, 274, 347, 359, 
381, 413. 

Montcalm', General Joseph Louis,- 
118, 119, 120, 122. 

Mont gom' e ry, Alabama, 284. 
Montgomery, General Richard, 144. 
Mon to jo' (cho), Admiral, 371. 
Montreal', 31, 106, 108, 122, 144, 
218. 

Moore’s Creek, battle of, 148. 
Mdr'gan, General Daniel, 155, 164, 
167. 

Mor'mons, 251, 365. 

Mo roc'co, 210. 

Mor'ris, Robert, 151, 176, 257. 
Mor'ris town, New Jersey, 151. 
MCrse, Samuel F. B., 256. 

‘ mother of New England,’ 67. 
motives of English colonization, 36, 
398. 

MGt'ley, John Lothrop, 276, 385. 
Moul'trie, Colonel William, 149. 
Moultrie, Fort, 149, 163. 

Mound Builders, 12. 
mountain systems of North America, 
2 . 

Mount Vernon, 183, 192. 
mowing machines, 248. 

Mug'wumps, 354, 355. 

Mur'frees bo ro, battle of, 315. 
music, 387, 388. 

Musk hoge'an Indians, 11, 109. 







lxxii 


INDEX 


Na po'le on Bo'na parte, 194, 209, 
211, 216, 217, 223, 229. 

Nar ra g&n'sett Indians, 69, 70, 85. 

Narva/ez (eth), Panfilo de, 28, 29, 
36. 

Nash'ville, battle of, 323, 324. 

national banks, 330. 

National Civil Service Reform, see 
Civil Service Reform,. 

Forest Service, 392. 

Republican party, 239. 

nationality, spirit of, 245, 258, 288, 
335. 

Nat u ral i za'tion Act, 194. 

naval fighting in Revolution, 143, 
144," 161, 162. 

in War of 1812, 220, 222, 223, 
226. 

in Warof Secession, 293, 298, 300, 
301, 302, 308, 324. 

in War with Spain, 371, 372, 373, 
374. 

naval stores, 93, 197. 

Navigation Acts, 79, 80, 86, 124, 
125. 

navy, Confederate, 290, 291, 293. 

of United States, 143, 144, 220, 
298, 371, 395. 

Navy Department, 194. 

Ne bras'ka, 209, 272, 338, 369. 

negroes, 28, 54, 94, 190, 268, 270, 
278, 279, 310, 311, 333, 336, 
337, 339, 340, 341, 351, 361, 
388, 412. See also slaves and 
slavery. 

Neth'er lands, see Holland. 

Neutrality, Proclamation of, 189, 
234. 

Neutral nation, rights and duties of, 
211, 342, 418. 

Ne va/da, 263, 274, 330, 413. 

New Al'bi on, 33. 

New Amsterdam, 50, 73, 80. 

New England, province of, 89. 

New England colonies, 145. 

New England confederacy, 71. 

New England Primer , 98. 

New England States, 48, 63, 72, 74, 
75, 78, 79, 84, 85, 86, 89, 91, 
92, 96, 100, 113, 125, 126, 137, 
139, 153, 197, 200, 203, 213, 
217, 224, 226, 236, 241, 245, 
266, 336. 


New'found land (nu ), 24, 30, 274, 
406. 

New France, 30, 39, 47, 103. 

New Hampshire, 61, 62, 78, 86, 113, 
114, 191, 228, 271. 

New Ha/ven, Connecticut, 68, 71, 79. 

New Jer'sey, 58, 81, 89, 110, 114, 
150, 151, 154, 158, 408, 409, 
416. 

New Mar'ket, battle of, 320. 

New Mex'i co, 8, 29, 36, 47, 261, 
263, 269, 407. 

New Neth'erland, 50, 72, 73, 78, 
79, 80. 

New Or'le ans, Louisiana, 108, 109, 
122, 200, 209, 223, 224, 225, 
230, 298, 300, 351, 398. 

battle of, 224, 225, 241. 

New Swe'den, 74, 79. 

newspaper, first in United States, 
99. 

New York, 41, 80. 97, 114, 134,140, 
145, 150, 152, 153, 159, 162, 

172, 174, 176, 181, 184, 191, 

195, 208, 235, 251, 253, 269, 

270, 274, 281, 348, 354, 355, 

390, 391. 

New York City, 50, 80, 92, 93, 128, 
133, 145, 149. 153, 154, 155, 

156, 159, 164, 170, 173, 183, 

198, 206, 215, 238, 250, 312, 

343, 345, 353, 378, 393. 

Ni &g'a ra, Falls, 222. 

Fort, 119. 

River, 218, 222. 

NIc'ols, Governor Richard, 80, 81. 

NVna, caravel, 20. 

Non-Intercourse Act, 213, 216. 

NOr'folk, Virginia, 302. 

normal schools, 257. 

North, industries of, 92, 93, 197, 
226, 290. 

condition in 1861, 290. 

condition in 1865, 330. 

North America, discovered by 
Cabot, 23. 

English attempts to settle, 36, 37, 
38, 41, 42. 

exploration of, 34, 35. 

North Carolina, 30, 37, 39, 81, 82, 
93, 107, 109, 110, 114, 132,136, 
145, 148, 168, 169, 181, 192, 
287, 324, 325, 327, 334, 337. 





INDEX 


lxxiii 


North Dako'ta, 209, 359. 
northeast passage to Asia, 48. 
Northern Pacific Hailway, 343. 
Northmen, 12-14, 19. 

North Pole, discovery of, 405. 

North Virginia, 42. 
northwest passage to Asia, 50. 
Northwest Territory, 173, 181, 187, 
208, 216, 231. 

Norwegian settlers, 92, 58. 

No'va Sco'ti a, 42, 20, 108. 
novelists, 205, 235, 75, 385, 386. 
Nueces (nwa) River, 269, 260. 
nullification, 240, 241, 246, 247, 252, 
270. 

‘ Ocean Sea,’ 15. 

O'glethorpe, General James, 110, 

111 , 112 . 

Ohi'o, 161, 208, 221, 231, 270, 274, 
348, 376, 400. 

Ohio country, 136. 

Land Company, 114. 

River, 105, 114, 116, 160, 161, 
214, 230, 232, 297, 392. 

Valley, 114. 
oil, 274, 350, 379, 396. 

Ok la ho'ma, 209, 358, 359, 399. 
‘Old Hickory,’ 242. 

‘ Old Ironsides,’ 22. 

‘Old Rough and Ready,’ 264. 

Mild Silver Leg,’ 78. 

Olm'sted, Frederick, 387. 

On ta'ri o, Lake, 105, 221. 

O pe cSn'ca nough, 55. 

Orders in Council, 211, 216, 229. 
Ordinance, of 1787, 181. 
of Nullification, 246. 
of Secession, 280, 

Or'e gon, 33, 259, 277, 347, 348, 413. 
Oregon , battleship, 393. 

Oregon Country, 253, 254, 256, 258, 
377. 

O ris'ka ny, 154. 

Os ce o'la, 244. 

Oswe'go, Fort, 118, 119, 153. 

O'tis, James. 125, 135. 

Ot'ta wa Indians, 123. 

Pa gif'ic cable, 382. 

Ocean, discovery of, 26, 33, 34, 
62, 209, 210, 259, 261, 358, 
371, 380, 399. 


Pacific States, 356. 

Page, Thomas Nelson, 386. 

Paine, John K., 388. 

Pak'en /tarn, General Edward, 225. 
Pa'lo Al'to, battle of, 260. 

Pa'los, Spain, 20,22. 

Pan a ma', Isthmus of, 26, 32, 393. 
Panama, republic, 394. 

Panama Canal, 393, 394, 395. 

Panic of 1887, 250, 251, 273. 
of 1857, 273. 
of 1873, 344. 
of 1884, 353. 

paper money, 152, 166, 250, 329, 
330, 350, 351, 362. 
papoose', 10. 
parcel post, 407. 

ITir'is, treaty of, 173. 

Park'man, Francis, 277, 385. 

Par'lia ment, 76, 79, 90, 127, 129, 
130, 131, 133, 135, 145, 156. 
parties, political, 185, 186, 230, 239, 
240, 252, 267, 272, 273, 279, 
354, 369, 377, 400, 401, 408. ■ 
partisan bands, 163, 164, 167. 
partisan political appointments, 208, 
243, 352, 353. 

Pas teur', Louis, 384. 

‘ pathfinder of the sea,’ 274. 

Patriots in Revolution, 140, 141, 145, 
146, 150, 164, 165, 172. 
pa troons', 73, 253. 

Payne Tariff Act, 402, 407. 
peace, 332, 396, 415, 418. 

Peace Conference, 325. 

Convention, 283, 284. 

Pea Ridge, battle of, 297. 

Pen'ry, Robert N., 405. 

Peking', China, 376. 

Pen in'su lar Campaign, 302, 303. 
Penn, William, 86, 87, 88, 103. 
Penn syl va'ni a. 86-88, 92, lol, 114, 
117, 123, 136, 110, 159, 174, 176, 
187, 202, 273, 274, 313, 322, 337, 
363, 391. 

pensions, 331, 357. 

People’s party, 364. 

Pe'quot Indians, 71. 

War, 71. 

Per'ry, Commodore Matthew, 271. 

Oliver H., 221, 222. 

‘personal liberty' laws, 270. 

Pe ru', 27, 32. 




lxxiv 


INDEX 


Petersburg, Virginia, 321, 322, 329. 

siege of, 321. 

Pet'ti grew, J. J., 314. 

Phil a del'phia, Pennsylvania, 87, 
133, 134, 142, 151, 154, 155, 156, 
158, 170, 172, 176, 186, 187, 198, 
204, 206, 346, 347. 

Phil'ip, King, 85. 

Philippine Islands, 27, 371, 375, 
376, 377, 397, 403. 
national assembly, 397. 

Phips, Sir William, 106. 
photography, invention of, 249, 387. 
physical history of North America, 
1-5. 

Pick'ens, Andrew, 164, 167. 

Plcfc'ett, General George, 314. 
Pierce, President Franklin, 271-273. 
PIFgrims, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 71, 
99. 

Pinck'ney, Charles, 177. 

Pin'ta, caravel, 20. 

pioneer life, 199, 200. 

pirates, 106, 107, 210, 211, 227. 

Pitt, William, Earl of Chatham, 
118, 119, 129, 130, 141. 

Pitt, Fort, 119. 

Pitts'burg, Pennsylvania, 116, 119, 
160, 363. 

Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee, 297. 
Plains of Abraham, Quebec, 120. 
plantation life, 54, 75, 76, 97. 
platforms, political, 185, 230, 239, 
240, 252, 264, 272, 273, 279, 357, 
358, 361, 369, 401, 407, 408. 
Platte Country, 272. 

PlaUes'burg, New York, 223. 
Ply'mouth, Massachusetts, 59. 
Plymouth, colony, 59, 60, 61, 63, 71, 
90. 

Company, 42, 43. 

Po ca lmn'tas, 46. 

Poe, Edgar Allan, 276, 385. 
poets, American, 135, 205, 235, 274, 
275, 276, 385. 

Po?k, President James K., 256, 258- 
263. 

Pol'o, Mar'co, 15, 19, 22. 
polyg'amy, 251, 357, 365. 

Ponce de Leon, see De Leon. 
Pon'tiac, 123, 217. 

Pontiac’s War, 123, 126. 
pony express, 265, 266. 


Poor Richard's Almanac, 205. 

Pope, General John, 294, 307. 
Pop'ham colony, 42. 
popular sovereignty, 272, 273. 
population of United States, 196, 
199, 351, 377, 378, 402, 403. 
Pop'u lists, see People's party. 

Port Hud'son, Mississippi, 297, 298, 
300, 314. 

Por'to Ri'co, 374, 375. 

Por'tu gal, king of, appealed to by 
Columbus, 20. 

explorations of, 17, 23, 25. 
postal savings banks, 407. 
postal system, 178, 265, 266, 381, 
382, 407. 
potato, 4, 38, 96. 

Poto'mac River, 42, 75, 202, 206, 
291, 307, 313. 
power loom, 226. 

Pow ha tan', 46, 55. 

Pres'cott, William H., 205, 276, 385. 
president of Confederacy, term of, 
284. 

president of United States, duties of, 
178. 

election of, 178, 195, 236, 347, 
348. 

powers of, 178, 242, 355, 409. 
President , frigate, 217. 
presidential plan of reconstruction, 
332, 336, 337, 338. 

Presidential Succession Act, 355. 
Prin^e'ton, battle of, 151. 

Princeton University, 203, 409. 
printing press, 14, 98, 256, 381. 
prisoners in War of Secession, 291, 
311, 328. 

prisons, 247, 257, 311, 328. 
private property in war, 310, 313. 
privateers, 144. 

Proclamation of Emancipation, see 
Emancipation Proclamation. 
Proclamation of Neutrality, see 
Neutrality , Proclamation of. 
Pro gres'sive party, 408. 
progressive Republicans, 402, 407. 
prohibition laws, see anti-liquor 
laws. 

Proph'et, 217. 
pro pri'e ta ry colonies, 114. 
protective tariff, 226, 227, 240, 246, 
252, 253, 284, 357, 358, 402. 





INDEX 


lxxv 


Prov'idence, Rhode Island, 69, 71. 
provincial soldiers, 119. 

Pueb'lo (pweb) Indians, 8. 
pueb'los, 8, 29. 

Pulas'ki, Count Casimir, 158. 
Pullman car strike, 363, 364. 
pure food laws, 397. 

Pu'ri tans, 58, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 
68, 74, 76, 77, 78, 275. 

‘ Quaker guns. ’ 303. 

Qua'kers, 69, 70, 76, 86, 87, 88, 94, 
274. 

Queb6c', Canada, 31, 39, 41, 47, 
112, 120, 122, 144. 

Queen Anne’s War, 107, 108, 109. 
Queens'town Heights, Canada, 218. 

race problems, 388. 
radicals control Congress, 336, 337, 
339. 

raids, see Indian and John Brown’s 
Raid. 

railroads, 238, 239,2f5, 250,256,273, 
319, 321, 322, 323, 328, 330, 343, 
344, 347, 349, 354, 356, 364, 365, 
382, 397. 

Railway, Union Pacific, 343. 
railway rate regulation, 356, 412. 
Rai'sin River, battle of, 221. 
Ra'legh, Sir Walter, 36, 37, 38, 39, 
52. 

Ra'leigrft, North Carolina, 39. 

Rap palian'nock River, 308. 
Rato'don, Lord, 168. 

Rayburn Railroad Bill, 412. 
reaper, invention of, 248. 

Rebellion, Bacon’s, 83, 84. 

Dorr’s, 253. 

Shays’, 176. 
recall, 413. 
r6§ i prog'i ty* 360. 
reconstruction period, 336, 337, 338, 
339, 340, 346, 349, 388. 

Red Cross Society, 414. 

Red River, 209, 298. 
re dSmp'tion ers, 94. 
ref er en'dum, 413. 
reforms, 257, 353, 360, 361, 397, 412, 
413. 

regulars, British, 119, 142, 164. 
Regulators, 132, 136. 
religion, Indian, 11. 


religious conditions, of English col¬ 
onies, 44, 59, 61, 65, 66, 68, 69, 
70, 71, 76. 

of seventeenth century, 57, 58, 74. 
religious freedom, 69, 76, 90, 101, 
111, 178, 205, 238, 388. 

revivals, 252. 

representation in Congress, 130, 131, 
178, 179, 180. 

representative government in col¬ 
onies, 53, 54, 100. 

Representatives, House of, see House 
of Representatives. 
republic at end of eighteenth century, 
196-205. 

Republican party, Democratic, see 
Democraticr-Republican party. 
Republican party, new, and Repub¬ 
licans, 273, 279, 348, 357, 361, 
370, 376, 400, 402. 

Resa'ca de la Pal'ma, battle of, 260. 
reservations, Indian, see Indian res¬ 
ervations. 

Reserve Banks, see Federal Reserve 
Banks. 

Board, see Federal Reserve Board. 
Restoration of Charles II., 79. 
results of, 

French and Indian War, 122. 

War with Mexico, 262, 263. 

War of 1812, 225, 226, 416. 

War of Revolution, 173, 225. 

War of Secession, 327, 328. 

War with Spain, 375. 
reunion, national, 371,.408, 416, 417. 
Rev'e nue bills, British, 126. 
Revolution, War of, see War of Revo¬ 
lution. 

Revolution of 1688, 90, 102. 

Rhode Is'land, 69, 70, 71, 76, 79, 
89, 90, 101, 114, 132, 134, 181, 
202, 221, 224, 253, 281. 
rice, 82, 93, 111, 112, 197, 213, 288, 
380. 

Rich’s Mountain, battle of, 292. 
Rich'ard son, Henry, 387. 
Rich'mond, Virginia, 134, 284, 291, 
294, 300, 302, 303, 304,306, 307, 
318, 319, 321, 322, 326, 332. 

Ri'o Gran'de River, 259, 260, 262, 
290. 

Rip'ley, General, 222. 
roads, 95, 198, 199, 213, 214. 



lxxvi 


INDEX 


Roanoke' Island, North Carolina, 
37, 38, 43, 52. 

* rock of Chickamauga,’ 315. 

Rock'e fel ler, John 1)., 350, 389. 
Rock'y Mountains, 2, 103, 209, 251, 
259, 201. 

Rolfe, John, 52, 54. 

Roman Catholics, 74, 76, 101. 
Roo'sevelt, Theodore, 390-401, 408. 
Rose'cran§, General William S.,315. 
rotation in office, 242. 

Rough Riders, 390. 

routes of trade to East, 14, 15, 17. 

royal colonies, 55, 07, 110, 114. 

Rum'sey, James, 202. 

rural credits bill, 411, 412. 

Russia (rush'a), 172, 233, 333, 356, 
377, 378. 

Sa bine' River, 233. 
sa'chein, 11. 

Sac Indians, 244. 

Sac ra men'to River, 265. 
sa'gas of Iceland, 14. 

St. Augustine', Florida, 31, 32, 36, 
47, 112. 

St. Gaw'dens, Augustus, 387. 

St. Jo'seph, Missouri, 266. 

St. Law'rence River, 2, 31, 39, 102, 
105, 114, 120. 

Gulf, see Gulf of St. Lawrence. 

St. Leg'er, Colonel Barry, 153. 

St. Lou'is, Missouri, 122, 210, 354. 
St. Mary’s, Maryland, 75. 

Salary Grab, 343, 344. 

Sa'lem, Massachusetts, 62,68,69, 91. 
Salle, see La Salle. 

Salt Lake City, Utah, 251. 
Samp'son, Admiral William T., 372. 
San An to'ni 6, Texas, 255, 262. 
San Fran §Is'co, California, 266, 
393, 399. 

sanitation, 394, 397, 398. 

San Ja cin'to, battle of, 255. 

San Juan' (hwan) Hill, battle of, 
374, 390. 

San'ta An'na, General, 255, 261. 
San'ta Fe', New Mexico, 36, 47, 61. 
San'ta Ma ri'a, caravel, 20. 

San ti a'go de Cu'ba, 372, 373, 374. 
Sarah Constant , ship, 43. 

Sar a to ga, battles of, 155, 156. 
Sar'gent, John S., 386. 


savage Indians, 7. 

Savan'nah, Georgia, 111, 163, 169, 
324, 325. 

scal'awags, 340, 341. 

Scan di na'vi a, 12, 378. 

Schley, Admiral Winfield S., 372. 
schools, 66, 73, 83, 97, 98, 237, 382, 
383, 388. See education. 
Sclnty'ler, General Philip, 153, 155, 
164. 

scientists, 277, 384. 

Scotch settlers, 87. 

Scotch-Irish settlers, 114. 

Scott, Dred, 277, 278, 279. 

Captain Robert, 405. 

General Winfield, 222, 261. 
sea captains, English, 32. 

Sea of Darkness, 17, 20, 22. 
se 9 es'sion, 181, 213, 224, 245, 252, 

280, 281, 283, 284, 286, 288, 
311, 327, 328, 333, 335, 336, 
337, 340. 

Secession, Ordinance of, 280. 

War of, see War of Secession. 
‘second maker of Constitution,’ 
207. 

Se dl'tion Act, 194, 195, 241, 245, 

281. 

Sem'i na ry Ridge, Pennsylvania, 
313. 

Sem'i nole Indians, 244. 

War, 244. 

Semwies, Captain Raphael, 293. 
Senate of United States, 178, 180, 
232, 247, 280, 283, 338, 348, 
355, 369. 

Sep'a ra tists, 58. 

Sera'pls , ship, 162. 

Ser'vi a, 417. 

Seven Days’ Fighting, 307. 

Seven Pines, battle of, 303. 

Seven Years’ War, 113. 

Seward (Soo'erd), William H., 270. 
sewing machine, invention of, 241. 
Shdn'non , frigate, 220. 
shape of world, beliefs about, 17. 
Sharps'burg, Maryland, see An- 
tietarn. 

Shaw nee', 217. 

Shays’ Rebellion, 176. 

Shen an do'ah Valley, 306, 321, 322, 
323. 

Shenandoah , frigate, 293. 





322, 323, 32(5. 


325, 326, 327, 332. 

‘Sherman’s bummers,’ 323. 
Sherman Anti-trust Act, 3C 
412. 

Sherman Silver Act, 360, 362. 

Slii'loh, battle of, 207. 
ships, American, 222, 395. 

Si er'ra Ne va'da, 2. 
silver, 4, 274, 330, 343, 344, 347, 

350, 351, 360, 362, 363, 365, 

369, 379. See coins and coinage. 
Sioua* War, 347. 

Sitting Bulk Chief, 347. 

Six Nations, 109, 159. 
slave labor, 258, 268. 
states, 232, 255, 263, 267, 268, 

272. 

trade, 32. 

slaves and slavery, 28, 54, 71, 73, 81, 
82, 85, 94, 95. 101, 106, 111, 
163, 179, 180, 181, 190, 191, 

196, 197, 205, 213, 230, 231, 

232, 233, 255, 2,58, 263, 264, 

266, 267, 268, 269, 270, 271, 

272, 273, 277, 278, 279, 280, 

281, 283, 284, 286, 288, 290, 

310, 311, 327, 328, 329. 331, 

335, 351. 

Sli dell', John, 292, 293. 
smallpox, 100, 111, 197. 

Smith, John, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 
51, 59, 99. 

Smith, Joseph, 251. 
smuggling, 80, 125. 
social classes in colonies, 97. 
social life in colonies, 96, 97. 
soil of North America, 4, 392. 

‘ solid South,’ 341. 

Soto, see De Soto. 

South, condition in 1861, 283, 288, 
290. 

condition in 1865, 328, 329, 335. 
industries of, 93, 190, 197, 283, 
288, 379-381. 

during reconstruction period, 336, 
337', 340, 341, 346, 349. 
recent progress, 351, 403. 

South A ruer'i ca, 24, 25, 36, 265, 
393. 


INDEX 




lxxvii 

319, 

South Car o ll'na, 31, 93. 

, 108, 

109, 


110, 

111, 

112, 

114, 

134, 

148, 

263, 

149, 

163, 

164, 

167, 

169, 

177, 

324, 

181, 

227, 

239, 

240, 

241, 

244, 


246, 

247, 

269, 

280, 

324, 

325, 


337, 

340, 348, 349, 380. 


401, 

South Da ko'ta 

,, 209. 

, 359. 




South Pole, discovery of, 405. 
southern colonies, 114. 

Southwest Territory, 181, 231. 

Spain and Spaniards, 20, 22, 23, 24, 
25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 33, 36, 
47, 48, 107, 110, 111, 112, 122, 
126, 172, 173, 189, 200, 209, 
233, 254, 276, 366, 370, 371, 
377. 

Spain, War with, 370-376, 390, 393, 
395, 397. 

Spanish-American republics, 233, 
414, 415. 

Spanish conquest of New World, 
27, 47. 

discoveries and explorations, 20, 
22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 
30, 33, 34, 36. 

Main, 33. 

settlement, 32, 36, 47. 
speaker of House of Representa¬ 
tives, 228, 408. 
specie circular, 250. 
specie payments resumed, 350, 351. 
Spoils System, 242, 243, 352, 353. 
Sp5ts'wood, Alexander, 109, 110. 
Spot syl va'ni a, battle of, 320. 
squatter sovereignty, 272. 
square, 9, 105. 

Stamp Act, 127, 128, 129, 130, 131, 
134, 135. 

Stamp Act Congress, 128, 129. 
stamp tax, 127, 330. 

‘ stand pat ’ Republicans, 407. 
Standard Oil Company, 350, 401. 
standard time, 354. 

Stand'ish, Captain Myles, 59, 60. 
Stan'wix, Fort, 153, i54. 
Star-spangled Banner , 224. 

Starving 'lime, 51, 53. 
state banks, 250. 

constitutions, 361. 

State, Department of, 184. 
state sovereignty, 215, 281, 284, 288. 
States’ Rights Doctrine, 281, 283, 
287, 333, 335. 







lxxviii 


INDEX 


steamboat, 202, 213, 214, 215, 231, 
378, 382, 406. 
steam engine, 201. 
steel trust, 370, 389, 396, 401. 
Ste'phens (\ ns), Alexander, 284. 
Ste'phen son, George, 238. 

Steu'ben (stoi), Baron von, 157. 
Ste'vens, Thaddeus, 337. 

Still'wa ter, see Saratoga , battles of. 
k Stone wall’s f( ^t cavalry,’ 306, 307. 
Sto'ny Point, kew York, 159. 

Stowe, Harriet Beecher, 270. 
strikes, 349, 350, 391. 

Stuart, General J. E. B., 306, 307. 
Stu'art, Gilbert, 202. 

Stwy've sant, Peter, 78, 79, 80. 
sub-treasuries, 251. 
suc'co tash, 10, 96. 
suffrage, 100, 148, 192, 253, 336, 
359, 361, 388, 389, 408, 413. 
Sugar Act, 126. 

Siil'livan, General John, 15 . 
Sullivan's Island, South C volina, 
148, 149. 

Sum'ner, Charles, 270. 

Sumter, Fort, 286, 287. 

Sum'ter, Thomas, 164, 167. 

Sunday, observance of, 66, 205. 
Sunday schools, 252. 

Supreme Court, 179, 207, 278, 348, 
349, 363. 

Swamp Fight, 85. 

‘ swamp fox,’ 164. 

Swedish settlers,- 74, 79, 87, 258, 378. 

Taft, William H., 376, 400, 401-408, 
412. 

Tal la poo'sa River, 217. 

Tam pi'co, Mexico, 415. 
tariff, 185, 226, 227, 240, 246, 247, 
252, 253, 273, 281, 283, 284, 330, 
357, 358, 360, 361, 362, 363, 369, 
370, 401, 402, 408, 410, 418. 
Tariff Board, 402. 

* tariff of abominations,’ 240. 
Tarle'ton, Banastre, 167. 
tax, direct on colonies, 127, 128, 129, 
130, 131. 

taxation, 55, 56, 76, 100, 114, 124, 
126, 127, 128, 129, 130, 131, 135, 
148, 152, 156, 175, 178, 185, 192, 
283, 330, 340, 346, 413. 

Tay'lor, Zachary, 260, 261, 264-269. 


tea, tax on, 131, 133, 156. 

Teach or Thatch, see Blarkbeard. 

Te cum'seh, 217, 218, 222. 
telegraph, 256, 274, 382, 399, 400. 
telephone, 354, 382. 
temperance societies, 257. 
ten-hour system, 257. 

Tennessee, 136, 191, 192, 217, 224, 
242, 256, 287, 292, 296, 315, 318, 
323 333 

Tennessee River, 230, 294, 296,317. 
Tex'as, 103, 233, 254, 255, 256, 258, 
259, 262, 263, 280, 314, 377, 381. 
Thames (temz), battle of, 222. 
Thanksgiving, the first, 60. 
third term, 192, 215. 
thirteen original states, 113,114, 281, 
T/iom'as, General George, 294, 315, 
317, 323. 

Theodore, 388. 

Ti con de ro'ga, Fort, 118, 119, 140, 
153. 

Tll'den, Samuel J., 346, 348. 
Tilden-IIayes contest, 318, 356. 

Tim'rod, Henry, 276. 

Tip'pe ca noe, battle of, 217. 

Titanic, ship, 406. 
tithing man, 205. 

tobacco, 4, 38, 50, 52, 53, 54, 73, 75, 
76, 79, 81, 93, 197, 199, 200, 213, 
230, 288, 350, 380. 

Tocque'ville, see De Tocqueville. 
Toleration Act, 76, 78. 
tomato, 4. 

tools, 8, 92, 93, 201, 248, 249, 328, 
351, 381. 

To'ries, 140, 145, D8, 153, 155, 159, 
163, 175, 188. 

To ron'to, see York. 

TSr'rence, W. W., 404. 
to'tem, 11. 

trade, 35, 50, 60, 72, 75,102,105,114, 
124, 125, 131, 134, 136, 196, 

197, 199, 200, 211, 212, 213, 

226, 268, 271, 273, 290, 300, 

330, 360, 362. 

Trade Commission Bill, 412. 
trade laws, 79, 80, 124, 125, 126, 
127, 131, 175, 178. 

routes of Middle Ages, 14, 15, 17, 
25. 

unions, 350. 

trans-continental railroads, 343. 






INDEX 


iXX-X 


transit, 95, 108, 199, 218, '214, 238, 
379. See railroads , canals , 
steamboats , roads. 

Treasury, Department of, 181. 
treaties of arbitration, see arbitration. 
Treaty of French with colonists, 150, 
158. 

of friendship with Massasoit, 00, 
85. 

of Ghent, 224, 410. 

Jay’s, 189. 
of Paris, 173. 

Penn’s with the Indians, 88. 
with Mexico, 202. 
with Spain, 375. 

TrSnt, 292, 293. 

Tren'ton, battle of, 159, 151, 229. 
trial by jury, 08, 184, 195, 
tribes, Indian, 11, 12. 

Trlm'ble, I. R., 314. 

Trlp'o li, 210, 211. 
truck farming, 380. 

True Relation, Smith’s, 47, 99. 
Truin'bull, John, 135. 
trusts, 350, 300, 370, 389, 390, 401, 
410. 

Try'on, Governor William, 132. 
tu ber cu lo'sis, 384, 385. 

Tu'nis, 210. 
turkey, 4. 

Turks control trade routes, 15, 18. 
Turn'er’s Insurrection. 279. 

O hs ca ro'ra Indians, 109. 

‘ Tweed Ring,’ 345, 346. 

‘ Two Billion Jl'Jlar Congress,’ 400. 
Ty'ler, President John, 252, 258. 
typhoid fever, 384.. 

Uncle Tom's Cabin , 270. 

‘ unconditional surrender,’ 294. 
‘underground railroad,’ 267. 

Un'der wood, Oscar, 410. 

Tariff Act, 430. 

Union Pacific Railroad, 343. 

United Colonies of New England, 71. 
United States, 170, 182, 185, 208, i 
209, 217, 283, 234, 330, 375, 378, I 
• 388, 393, 395, 397, 399, 402,417. I 

university planned for Jamestown 
colony, 56. 

University of Pennsylvania, 203. 

of Virginia, 238. , 

TJ'lah, 263, 209, 274, 305, 413. 


Vii'ca, Cabe'zade, (tha), 28. 

Valley campaign, Jackson’s, see 
Shenandoah VaU g. 

Valley Forge, 156, T , 158. 

\TXn Bu'ren, President Martin, 249— 
252. 

Ved'der, Elihu, 380. 
vegetation of Nortl^ America, 4. 
Venezuela (zwej,* 27, 305, 300. 
Ven'itje, 15. 

VeTa Cruz, Mexico, 201, 202, 415. 
Yer m5nt', 01, 78, 140, 153, 191, 192. 
Verraza'no (z«e), 30, 39, 102. 
Vespuc'ci (pootche), A me'ri go, 
24, 30. 

veto, 247, 252, 338, 357, 409. 

‘ veto president,’ 357. 
vice president, method of electing, 
195. 

succeeds to presidency, 252, 209, 
$4, 352, 353, 390. 

Vicksburg, Mississippi, 297, 298, 
300, 314, 318. 

Vintjennes', Indiana, 100. 

Vin'land, 13, 14. 19. 

Vir gln'i a, 38, 74, 75, 70, 77. 79, 81, 

82, 83, 84, 87, 91, 93/98. 100, 
109, 114, 123, 127, 128, 134, 135, 
139, 145, 140, 159, 109, 173, 181, 
195, 206, 229. 278, 279, 28!, 284, 
287, 292, 307, 311,314, 320, 340. 

Virginia , see Merrimac. 

Virginia Company, 41, 53, 55, 58. 
Virginia Military Institute, 220. 
Virginia Resolutions, 195, 245. 
voters and voting, 65, 00, 68, 09, 78, 

83, 100, 148, 192, 253, 272, 339, 
340, 359, 300, 301, 413. 

Wa'bash River, 217. 
wam'pum, 9, 73, 88. 

War, Black Hawk, 244. 

Creek, 244. 

French and Indian, 113-122, 124, 
126, 136, 139, 198, 200. 

King George’s, 112, 113. 

King Philip’s, 84-80. 

King William’s, 106, 108. 

Modoc, 347. 

of 1812, 216-226, 230, 240, 241, 
245, 252. 

of Revolution, 137-174, 188, 225, 
281, 303, 309. 




lxxx 


INDEX 


War of Secession, 181, 191, 203, 
285-333, 338, 347,357, 366, 388, 
400, 408, 412. 

Pequot, 71. 

Pontiac’s, 123. 

Queen Anne’s, 107, 108, 109. 

Seminole, 244. 

Seven Years’, see IFar, French 
and Indian. 

Sioux, 347. 

with Barbary States, 210, 211, 220, 
227. 

with Mexico, 259-263, 284, 294, 
303, 393. 

with Spain, 370-375, 376, 390, 
393, 395, 397. 

war debts, 126, 184, 185, 226, 329, 
330, 331, 337, 375. 

War. Department of, 184, 194, 336. 

War'ren, General Joseph, 142. 

Washington, Booker, 388. 

Washington, George, 77, 114, 115, 
11(5, 117, 135, 139, 142, 143, 144, 
145 ; 149, 150, 151, 152, 156, 157, 
158, 159, 165,169, 170, 173, 17(5, 
182-192, 205, 215, 225, 303, 
389. 

Washington (state), 259, 359, 413. 

Washington City, 2<>0, 223, 251, 256, 
29f, 292, 302, 306, 307, 321, 322, 
332, 363, 414. 

Washington and Lee University, 
340 ^ 

Water loo, battle of, 229. 

waterways of North America, 2, 3, 
391, 392, 396. 

Watt, James, 201. 

Wayne, General Anthony, 159, 187. 

weapons, Indian, 8. 

of seventeenth century, 61. 

of twentieth century, 382, 417. 

Web'ster, Daniel, 228, 245, 247, 254, 
2(58, 269, 281. 

Wes'ley, John and Charles, 111. 

West, Benjamin, 202. 

West, industries of, 199, 200, 230, 
231, 380, 381. 

settlement of, 135, 136, 199, 200, 
230, 251, 254. 

West Indies, 24, 85, 112, 292, 300. 

West Jersey, 81, 86, 110. 

West Point, New York, 165, 294, 
303. 


West Virginia, 311, 330. 

Wey'ler, General, 266. 

wheat, 65, 197, 199, 212, 363, 379. 

Whig party, 252, 256, 357. 

Whigs, see Patriots in Revolution. 
Whisky Insurrection, 187, 188. 

‘ Whisky King,’ 344. 

Wins'tier, J. McNeil, 386. 

White, Captain John, 38. 

White Plains, battle of, 150. 
Whlt'field, George, 111. 

WhTt'ney, Eli, 190. 

Whit'ti er, John G., 274, 275, 385. 
wigwams, 8. 

Wii'derness, battle of, 319. 

Wilkes, Captain Charles, 293. 
Wil'lard, Frances, 346, 413. 

Wil'liam of Orange, III., king of 
England, 90, 102. 

William and Mary College, 98, 204. 
William Henry, Fort, 118. 
Wil'liams, Roger, 68, 69, 70, 71. 
Wil'liamsburg, Virginia, 139. 
WU'ming ton, North Carolina, 169, 
324. 

Wil'mot Pro vi'so, 263. 

Wil'son, Woodrow, 386, 408, 409- 
418. 

Wilson, Mrs. Woodrow, 414. 

Wiison Tariff Act. 363. 

Win'ches ter, battle of, 322. 
WIn'throp, John, 63, 64, (56, 99. 
Wisconsin, 161, 231, 244, 263. 
witchcraft, 90, 91. 

Wolfe, General James, 119, 120, 122, 
144. 

woman suffrage, 359, 413. See 
suffrage. 

Woman’s Christian Temperance 
Union, 346, 399, 413. 
women in War of Revolution, 148. 
in War of Secession, 309. 
sent to colonies, 53, 109. 
women’s work in colonies, 93, 100. 

welfare work, 257, 346, 413, 414. 
wool and woolen goods, 93, 226, 227, 
240, 288, 360, 402, 410. 
working day, length of, 257, 397. 
World’s Fair, at Philadelphia, 346, 
347. 

at Chicago, 365. 

Wright, Orville and Wilbur, 406. 
Writs of Assistance, 125. 




INDEX 


lxxxi 


Wy o'ming, 200, 259, 263, 359, 413. 
Wyoming Valley, massacre, 159. 

X Y Z Papers, 193, 194. 

YM'kin River, 168. 

Yale College, 98, 203. 

yellow fever, 108, 187, 384, 385, 398. 

Y6rk, Canada, 221. 


York and Albany, Duke of, 80, 81, 
87, 89. See also James II. 
Ydrk'town, Virginia, 170, 303. 

York River, 303. 

Young, Brigham, 251. 

Young Men’s Christian Association, 
252. 

Young Women’s Christian Associa¬ 
tion, 252. 


















r 




f 


i 





> 
















/■ 



















\> <y . s • • 





>* °^ - • J>° 

o -7^;* o ^ <?> °o ^T^o* o° ^ 

^ ° -° ^ <* . ^ * > -° a 0 <^ 

V • * " ^ \j s * • , o <V „ y • o ^ 

v c T^/OjRtv * -<£» A ^ - ^ 

^ ^ A*» V 


, V + 

^ o* : 

<j 5 •- 

* h v v __ * 

' A .0 


a-* 

aA *** 

^ <v *rxT* 
** .'i^**. *«. .0 



L. 

<*> \ 

V v \!^L'* O 

•* ^ a * k s$ 6%'. ^ 


* '7, 

w Az* A 


° vv « 

'/ A v \. ■ 

* tf*. 



\0 v* _ „ _ 

0 -V <j> o 

J 8,1 / % 

a 0 *<•«* a> v s * * • ^ < 





X A V "V 

«* 4 

AV ^ ^'*** % <G* '<>•»' * 

<r .^t', %, c° *w%j,’ o j* 

^ o • " o v 


_. _ ♦ ^ ^ < '- r v *> 

«G v o, 'o, * - <\ 

’; «fe / • 

° 0 ^ '\. VvjllS^ ^ ’ * AlffA'° , *° ’’Vi. 

■ ^ j. 0 ~ »»*»» ”> V ,'••'* cv , 0 ^ .>•»- ^ 

>\ ^ / :’aVa\ ^ ^ ^ • 



; “ aV*\ 


A 





^ #■ 

: ^\, J . 
v _ c > <xy & • v •* ^ * 

x\ r ^ '••* « 0 V V> "o . * * A *' 4 < 

^ ^ ,cr , • 1 '; > O, „.«., -V , 0 ^ 





<5 

2 

♦ *- 

"^It. 'o'. . * A 

0 ^ , • ‘ J -. ^o, A . 

, ♦Vv 75 %*,* ^ A ,‘ 

• ? V 

o 1 ° v% 

H ^ V\ * 



(d 

C-' o 

^ o 

<*. A A. ■ 
•■•**** ^ yj^% 



4 o^ 

><y * 



, 0 ^r 




1 











* O » C ° .0 

. V a*/'* * sy 

4. * i2 £f\'vi/T^<s •■* *P. .‘xy v S* • a 

^ ♦ jfOf/h,; ^ A 

vv\ ° 




o 5 °^ : 

^ — S o 

•_ - * /***. 

-. AA : - 1 ^slf.“ V « 

, 4 -aT^ 2 # 4 

/ # # ls ^ o^ .«•'** "*o c o»o, 

t> * _c-5^ <* *P C v t - .-> .TV V ' 




** *T o o " 

, V °^. ' • - ® 

V t *^W> ^ <v ► 

t A<r<ll 4 Wk. <* — *■ 

r % / 



r, o i/y/'Sjf f \\\j' ™ A' -* 7 - •l 1 7. ° c c ' ”.o o 

vc> o V/ \Vr 4 a > * <r> o 

-» ^o Jf 0 o - « * qv ,*•'«<, ^b A v 0 o - 0 # 

t% , ^ \/ sm*. \/ / 


A ’’b V* 

>’ 4 °^, 

o rP <** * * ^". *' ^ 

| A 0 f 

^ v * 










^ SEPT 79 



T- 


N. MANCHESTER, 
INDIANA 46962 


■ ■' 


’ ° ?>° 
r\ 



.«»■/ ^ * 
o '© . » - A 

o y ,°:°- '*>, 

O » _r^v „ <- ^ 

-p <N k 

^ A 0 

O V 



* rr 

■^o* 








LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 





































































































































